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New cryptographic scheme aims to protect Bitcoin wallets from quantum risk

The proposal, ZKPoSP, is designed to keep existing hierarchical deterministic wallet addresses usable by swapping elliptic curve signatures for zero-knowledge proofs.

Reported · Written up by our desk · Market Structure

Researchers at AmericanFortress have outlined a post-quantum approach, dubbed ZKPoSP, that targets a specific threat to today’s blockchain wallet cryptography from fault-tolerant quantum computers. In the paper, the team argues that once a future “Q-Day” arrives, a quantum system running Shor’s algorithm could recover elliptic-curve private keys from public keys, undermining wallets that rely on the same signature methods used by Bitcoin and many other networks.

The proposed system replaces elliptic curve signatures with zero-knowledge proofs while aiming to preserve compatibility with existing hierarchical deterministic wallet standards. The work is framed around maintaining the same wallet addresses and supporting key derivation standards including BIP32, BIP44, and SLIP-10, rather than requiring users to migrate funds to new quantum-safe addresses.

AmericanFortress said the approach would allow wallet owners to prove control of their wallets through knowledge of a wallet seed phrase. Because the seed is kept secret, the authors contend legitimate owners could still demonstrate ownership even if individual private keys are compromised.

The paper also introduces QBIP32, a key derivation scheme intended to support multiple elliptic curves while remaining compatible with hierarchical deterministic wallets. According to Decrypt, the researchers implemented a prototype in Rust using the RISC Zero zero-knowledge virtual machine.

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