Cryptocurrencies have been obsessed with speed, fees, and scalability for years. Now it may have to face a more existential question: What happens when its core security is breached?
The issue is moving from theory to urgency. Quantum computers are machines that use the principles of quantum physics to process information in a completely different way than today’s computers, ultimately solving the kinds of mathematical problems that underpin modern encryption.
Industry-wide discussion around post-quantum cryptography has intensified in recent weeks, especially after new research from Google and academic collaborators suggests that such systems could one day break widely used encryption, potentially breaking systems like Bitcoin in minutes rather than years.
As Bitcoin developers scramble to find solutions and Ethereum prepares for the event, Solana is trying to stay ahead of the situation.
Cryptozoology company Project Eleven has partnered with the Solana Foundation to experiment with post-quantum security technology designed to protect against quantum attacks that could render today’s cryptography obsolete. Early work has exposed a difficult reality: Making Solana quantum-safe may come at the expense of the performance that defines it.
In practice, this effort means moving beyond theory and into field testing. Project Eleven is working with the Solana ecosystem to model how the network will behave when current encryption technology is replaced, including deploying a test environment using quantum-resistant signatures (digital keys that authorize transactions). Our goal is not only to prove that the technology works, but also to understand what problems arise when it scales.
Early results show clear trade-offs.
Project 11 CEO Alex Pruden told CoinDesk that the new quantum-safe “signatures” that approve transactions are larger and heavier than those used today, roughly 20 to 40 times larger. He has worked in the cryptocurrency and venture capital space for many years and brings military and industrial experience to this problem. This means that the network can process far fewer transactions at one time. Pruden said that in tests, versions of Solana using this new encryption technology ran about 90 percent slower than now.
This tradeoff goes directly to the core of Solana’s design. The blockchain is known for its high throughput and low latency, positioning itself as one of the fastest networks in cryptocurrency. But post-quantum cryptography, while more secure against future threats, comes with heavier data and computing requirements that make maintaining those speeds more difficult.
“Choose any wallet”
Solana may also face more immediate structural challenges than its peers.
Unlike Bitcoin and Ethereum, where wallet addresses are usually derived from hashed public keys, Solana exposes the public key directly. This difference is important in quantum scenarios. “At Solana, 100 percent of the network is vulnerable,” Pruden said.
“A quantum computer can select any wallet and immediately start trying to recover the private keys.”
Pruden, a former Army Green Beret who first became interested in Bitcoin while deployed in the Middle East, later worked at Coinbase and joined Andreessen Horowitz’s venture capital team to launch its first fund. He later became an early leader at privacy-focused blockchain Aleo and later launched Project Eleven, a company focused on preparing digital assets for what he calls “Q-day,” when quantum computers will break today’s cryptography.
Meanwhile, some developers in the Solana ecosystem are looking for simpler, more direct fixes. One example is so-called “Winternitz Vaults,” which use a different type of cryptography that is believed to be more secure against quantum attacks. Rather than changing the entire network, these tools focus on protecting individual wallets, giving users a way to protect their funds while still considering larger system-wide upgrades.
Despite these obstacles, Solana is moving faster than many companies in the industry on at least this aspect of experimentation. “There’s something tangible,” Pruden said. “We actually have a testnet with post-quantum signatures.” He added that the Solana Foundation “deserves at least some credit for participating and being willing to do this work.”
This level of engagement remains rare across the cryptocurrency space. While some ecosystems, notably Ethereum, have begun discussing long-term migration paths, implementation remains limited.
The broader challenge is not just technical but also social: Upgrading cryptography in a decentralized system requires coordination among developers, validators, applications, and users, all of whom must act in sequence.
For Pruden, the risk is that the industry waits too long to begin the process. “This is tomorrow’s problem — until it becomes today’s problem,” he said. “Then it takes four years to repair.”
Read more: Here’s how Bitcoin, Ethereum and other networks are preparing for the looming quantum threat