Solana Foundation announced on December 16 a collaboration with Project Eleven to prepare networks for the risks that quantum computing may pose in the future.
Project 11 is a company and research institute dedicated to the intersection of quantum computing and cryptography, with a primary focus on the security of digital assets.
Project Eleven was developed as part of our work with Solana Foundation Post-Quantum Signature System on Test Network (testnet) From Solana“Demonstrated that end-to-end quantum-resistant transactions are practical and scalable.”
This means that Project Eleven has adapted the entire transaction process (from signing by the user to verification on the network) to use the cryptographic algorithms designed. To counter quantum computer attacks.
By doing this, testnetdemonstrated that these companies can integrate without reducing speed, verification, or ability to scale your network.
Additionally, the Project Eleven team reported the same day that it led a comprehensive risk assessment of how advances in quantum computing could impact Solana’s core infrastructure.
That evaluation included user wallets, validator security, and long-term cryptographic assumptions supporting the network.
Our mission is to protect the world’s digital assets from quantum risk.
Alex Pruden, CEO of Project Eleven.
Why does quantum computing pose a risk to Solana and other networks?
Solana uses elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) within its network, similar to other networks such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.
In that sense, CriptoNoticias believes that given the level of structure of Bitcoin and Ethereum, the latter is It gets even more complicated when it comes to protecting yourself. What is considered a quantum attack.
In the specific case of Solana, an ECC variant known as Ed25519 is used to digitally sign transactions. This encryption scheme is a mathematical technique that allows you to: Verify the authenticity of transactions without revealing the user’s private key.
In a theoretical scenario, an algorithm like Scholl’s could crack this type of cipher, given a sufficiently advanced quantum computer.
In reality, a quantum attacker can: Derive private key from public key It is already published on the network. That private key can be used to sign fake transactions and transfer funds without the rightful owner’s permission.
However, that situation still seems far away.
Finally, this initiative joins another existing initiative that proposes in Solana to use a signature system with a hash function for transactions that is resistant to quantum attacks, as reported by CriptoNoticias.