The Solana Foundation has partnered with Project Eleven to prepare the network for potential threats from quantum computers.$SOL
Experts assessed the risks for Solana and created a testnet prototype using post-quantum digital signatures.
The implementation demonstrated that "end-to-end quantum-resistant transactions are practical and scalable."
In early December, analysts from Helius Labs presented a plan for Solana's transition to post-quantum cryptography. According to them, the blockchain needs a "deep transformation of the protocol core."
The key threat comes from Shor's algorithm, which theoretically allows for the breaking of the current standard of encryption on elliptic curves (Ed25519).
The first change will be a complete abandonment of Ed25519 as the base digital signature algorithm across all network components. Instead, post-quantum analogs like the standardized NIST algorithm ML-DSA will need to be implemented.
This will lead to a multiple increase in data volumes: the size of the public key will grow from 32 bytes to 1-2 KB, and the digital signature will grow from 64 bytes to several kilobytes.