AmericanFortress's zero-knowledge scheme aims to shield Bitcoin and Ethereum wallets from quantum attacks using existing seed phrases, no address change needed. Paper awaits peer review.
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Blockchain security company AmericanFortress published a cryptographic scheme it says can protect existing cryptocurrency wallets from future quantum attacks without requiring users to move funds or change wallet addresses.
Unlike most post-quantum approaches, the scheme lets wallet addresses stay the same while adding post-quantum protection, the company said. The technical paper, posted on the Cryptography ePrint Archive, describes the method as compatible with seed-based hierarchical deterministic wallets used across Bitcoin and Ethereum, as well as other blockchain networks relying on elliptic curve cryptography. The paper has not yet been peer-reviewed.
The scheme uses zero-knowledge proofs derived from a wallet's original seed phrase instead of replacing the elliptic curve cryptography underlying existing wallets, according to the paper. Participating nodes would verify those proofs while users continue signing transactions with their existing keys, AmericanFortress said.
AmericanFortress cited a recent Bloomberg analysis estimating that up to $470 billion in Bitcoin could be vulnerable to quantum attacks if sufficiently powerful quantum computers become available. Coinbase has also been preparing for quantum threats to its custody platform.
Other companies are also developing post-quantum protections. On Tuesday, Freedom Factory unveiled PQ1, a post-quantum hardware wallet for Ethereum and EVM-compatible networks. Unlike AmericanFortress's software-based approach, PQ1 uses post-quantum cryptographic signatures generated on dedicated hardware, using SPHINCS+C10 signatures and ERC-4337 smart accounts, Freedom Factory said.
Developers have increasingly focused on post-quantum cryptography because sufficiently powerful quantum computers could eventually break the elliptic-curve cryptography securing Bitcoin, Ethereum and many other blockchains. Although such computers are not yet available, several blockchain projects have already begun researching migration strategies. In recent months, a Strategy-led consortium pledged $15 million to fund Bitcoin quantum security research, and the Ethereum Foundation published a proposal for migrating accounts to quantum-resistant cryptography.
The AmericanFortress paper is one of several proposals aiming to address the quantum threat without disrupting existing wallets. The paper is available on the Cryptography ePrint Archive and has not yet been peer-reviewed.
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