Stellar unveils quantum-safety roadmap to protect blockchain from computing threats
In brief
- Stellar's roadmap begins 2026 with post-quantum signature verification in smart contracts for enterprise wallet migration.
- 2027 protocol upgrade enables quantum-safe signers on every account while retaining the same address.
- Stellar's separated account identity and signing keys provide structural advantage over Bitcoin and Ethereum.
The quantum threat timeline
Experts say that quantum computers will eventually break the elliptic curve cryptography that secures most blockchains today. The National Institute of Standards and Technology updated its quantum threat timing to 2029, moving the danger window closer than previously estimated. Google has set 2029 as its internal deadline for post-quantum readiness, and crypto researchers recently proposed a "Q-Day" target as early as 2030. The window is narrowing.
Stellar faces two distinct quantum threats. Attackers could forge validator signatures to compromise the network's consensus mechanism, or they could derive private keys from public ones, enabling account takeovers. These aren't theoretical—they're the existential challenges every major blockchain must solve in the next few years.
Stellar's three-stage plan
In 2026, post-quantum signature verification will be added to Stellar's smart contract layer, allowing enterprise wallets to begin migrating to quantum-safe keys. In 2027, a protocol-level upgrade will enable every Stellar account to add a quantum-safe signer while keeping the same address. The third stage involves fully deprecating current cryptography, timed based on quantum computing progress and community readiness.
The structural advantage matters here. Stellar's account identity is separated from its signing keys—meaning users can swap in quantum-safe cryptography without changing their address or migrating their balance. Bitcoin and Ethereum lack this separation, making their migration far more complex.
The dormant account problem
One challenge remains unresolved. Dormant accounts whose holders are unreachable pose a problem, and any hard cutoff would effectively freeze those accounts. Stellar hasn't yet announced how it will handle accounts abandoned for years.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin developers are considering multiple proposals to mitigate quantum threats, and Ethereum developers have formed a post-quantum team to devise a path forward. Stellar's head start on architecture gives it a genuine edge.
XLM, the Stellar network's native token, is down nearly 12% in the last week amid a broader crypto market rout, recently trading at $0.196. Even so, it's up almost 15% over the last 30 days.
