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

ME News update, April 4 (UTC+8). As Bitcoin developers urgently search for quantum-safe solutions and Ethereum prepares for a “Q-Day,” 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 operate 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’s transaction processing speed to drop 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 100% of the network exposed to quantum-attack risk. Hackers can choose any wallet to attempt to recover private keys. The risk is higher than the technical and community-coordination challenges faced by BitcoinEthereum “tube” (管), and Solana is leading the industry in quantum-safe experiments— it already has a quantum-safe test network that can actually run. Project Eleven CEO Alex Pruden said, “If the industry waits until quantum threats truly arrive before starting to fix things, it may take four years.” (Source: ODAILY)