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

ME News message. On April 4 (UTC+8), as Bitcoin developers urgently search for quantum-safe solutions and Ethereum prepares for “Q-Day,” Solana is trying to get ahead of potential threats. Currently, Project Eleven is collaborating with the Solana Foundation to deploy quantum-safe signatures (Post-Quantum Signatures) on the test network, simulating how the network would perform after replacing the existing cryptographic algorithms. Initial results show that quantum-safe signatures are roughly 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 advantages—known for high throughput and low latency.

In addition, Solana’s public-key design leaves the entire network 100% exposed to quantum-attack risk; hackers can choose any wallet and attempt to recover private keys. The risk is higher than the technical and community-coordination difficulties BitcoinEthereum faces. Solana is at the forefront of quantum-safety experiments in the industry, and 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)