Analysis: Solana Quantum Threat Experiment Reveals Trade-Off Between Security and Speed

ME News message, April 4 (UTC+8). As Bitcoin developers urgently search for quantum-safe solutions, Ethereum is preparing for the “Q-Day,” and Solana is trying to get ahead of potential threats. Currently, Project Eleven is working with the Solana Foundation to deploy quantum-safe signatures (Post-Quantum Signatures) on a test network, simulating how the network would perform after replacing the existing cryptographic algorithms. Initial results show that quantum-safe signatures are about 20–40 times larger than the current signatures, causing the network to slow down transaction processing by about 90%, directly undermining Solana’s design advantage, which is known for high throughput and low latency. In addition, Solana’s public-key design leaves the entire network 100% exposed to quantum attack risk; hackers can choose any wallet to attempt to recover the private key. The risk is higher than the technical and community coordination challenges Bitcoin and its ecosystem face. In quantum-safe experiments, Solana is leading the industry; it already has a quantum-safe testnet that can actually run. Alex Pruden, CEO of Project Eleven, said, “If the industry waits until the quantum threat truly arrives and then starts patching, it may take four years.” (Source: ODAILY)