Solana is now quantum-resistant, claim Solana developers

The developers of Solana have created a quantum-resistant vault on the Solana blockchain to protect user funds from potential threats posed by quantum computers.

The solution, called the "Solana Winternitz Vault," implements a complex hash-based signature system where new keys are generated each time a transaction is made, explained Dean Little, a cryptography researcher and chief scientist at Zeus Network, in a GitHub post on January 3.

Generating new private keys for each transaction should make it difficult for quantum computers to plan a coordinated attack on any set of public keys, which are exposed every time a transaction is signed.

Source: Dean Little

The quantum-resistant feature of Solana is currently available as an optional addition, not as a network-wide security update. This means that Solana users must choose to store their funds in the Winternitz vaults instead of their regular Solana wallets to ensure their assets are protected against potential quantum threats.

How it works

The Winternitz vault first generates a new pair of Winternitz keys and calculates the Keccak256 Merkle root of the public key.

A "split" vault is created that consists of a split account and a refund account, where the user generates a Winternitz signature on a message containing the amount of "lamports" — the smallest denomination of the native Solana cryptocurrency (SOL) — that they wish to transfer.

Once the transfer is completed, any remaining funds are transferred to the refund account and the vault is closed.

The development could provide a degree of comfort to many cryptocurrency investors who fear that their cryptographically secured funds could someday be compromised by a powerful quantum computer.