BNB Chain (BNB) tested post-quantum cryptography on BSC and confirmed it works, though throughput fell roughly 40% as signatures swelled 37 times in size.
BSC Migration Report Findings
BNB Chain published the BSC Post-Quantum Cryptography Migration Report, evaluating how the network could swap older cryptographic systems for quantum-resistant alternatives.
The team tested two replacements: ML-DSA-44, the lattice-based signature scheme that NIST standardized under FIPS 204 in 2024, and pqSTARK aggregation for validator consensus votes.
Cross-region tests showed throughput sliding from 4,973 transactions per second to 2,997 under the new setup. Transaction sizes ballooned from roughly 110 bytes to about 2.5 KB, while signatures alone jumped from 65 bytes to 2,420 bytes.
Block sizes climbed from around 130 KB to nearly 2 MB at equivalent load. Median finality latency, however, held steady at two slots across all test scenarios.
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Validator Aggregation Holds Up
Smart contract activity slowed less, since those transactions already carry larger payloads. The biggest performance hit came from cross-region data transfer, not signature verification itself, developers noted in the report.
The pqSTARK proof system delivered the report's most striking result.
Six validator signatures totaling 14.5 KB compressed into a single proof of about 340 bytes, a 43-to-1 reduction that kept consensus efficient even under heavier cryptographic loads.
The slowest 1% of block confirmations stretched to 11 slots in some cross-region runs, with larger blocks taking longer to propagate between nodes.
Quantum Threat Timeline
BNB Chain framed the work as a proof of concept rather than a production rollout, stating that throughput constraints at the network and data layer remain the central obstacle. The report also flagged P2P handshakes and KZG commitments as outside its current scope, requiring broader coordination with the Ethereum ecosystem.
The migration concerns Shor's algorithm, a quantum method capable of breaking the elliptic-curve cryptography that secures most blockchains today.
Researchers generally place a cryptographically relevant quantum computer 10 to 20 years out, though Google research published in March 2026 suggested viable attacks on ECC systems could emerge by 2029.
Other networks have moved in the same direction recently. NEAR Protocol rolled out ML-DSA signatures earlier this month, and TRON announced a post-quantum initiative in April, while Ethereum has acknowledged the need for similar upgrades without setting a formal schedule.
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