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Bitcoin faces post-quantum signature bloat, StarkWare backs ZK STARKs

Cointelegraph reports NIST-approved post-quantum signatures are 10 to 100 times larger than Bitcoin’s current ECDSA and Schnorr signatures, raising throughput concerns.

Reported · Written up by our desk · Market Structure

Bitcoin’s path to quantum safety is being debated, with researchers arguing that post-quantum signature schemes could significantly increase data stored on-chain, potentially slowing transaction processing, according to Cointelegraph.

StarkWare co-founder Eli Ben-Sasson said the issue can be addressed either by increasing block size or by aggregating signatures using ZK STARK proofs, and he argued STARKs are the better route to preserve performance while moving toward quantum security.

Cointelegraph notes Ben-Sasson claims Blockstream founder Adam Back agrees with the STARK approach. It also highlights that adding zero-knowledge proofs alone does not automatically make Bitcoin quantum secure, but rather helps manage the overhead created by much larger post-quantum signatures.

The outlet also points to modeling that post-quantum signatures approved by the National Institute of Standards and Technology are 10 to 100 times larger than Bitcoin’s existing ECDSA and Schnorr signatures, which some analysts fear could reduce throughput to fewer than 1 transaction per second.

Cointelegraph further says Marin Ivezic of PostQuantum.com and Applied Quantum stated Bitcoin’s SegWit scheme reduced the impact of large signatures by up to 75%, while his analysis of the NIST ML-DSA-44 scheme suggests additional performance implications.

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