# Post-Quantum Ethereum

> Securing the Ethereum protocol for the post-quantum era.

This is the official website of the Post-Quantum team within the Ethereum Foundation's Protocol cluster.

## Overview

The Post-Quantum (PQ) team works on securing Ethereum against the eventual threat of quantum computing to public-key cryptography. The approach is grounded in cryptographic agility — the ability to upgrade core primitives without destabilizing the network.

Quantum computing will eventually break ECDSA and BLS signatures used in Ethereum. The team is preparing multi-layer migration strategies spanning the execution layer, consensus layer, and data layer.

## Key Projects

- **leanSig**: Rust implementation of leanXMSS hash signatures for Ethereum consensus
- **leanVM**: Minimal zero-knowledge virtual machine for proof generation
- **leanMultisig**: SNARK-based signature aggregation built on leanVM
- **leanSpec**: Executable Python specification used by ~10 client teams
- **EIP-8051**: ML-DSA (Dilithium) precompile for execution layer
- **EIP-8052**: Falcon precompile for execution layer

## Roadmap Milestones

- I*: PQ key registry (Consensus)
- J*: PQ sig precompiles (Execution)
- L*: PQ attestations, real-time CL proofs, leanVM (Consensus + Data)
- M*: PQ sig aggregation, PQ blobs (Execution + Data)
- Longer term: Full PQ consensus, PQ transactions, PQ sampling (All layers)

## Protocol Layers

### Execution Layer
Enabling quantum-safe authentication through account abstraction and a vector math precompile. Gradual, opt-in migration without a flag day.

### Consensus Layer
Replacing BLS with hash-based signatures (leanXMSS). SNARK-based aggregation via leanVM to restore scalability lost without BLS native aggregation.

### Data Layer
Post-quantum cryptography for blob handling. The role of aggregation at the data layer is still being explored.

## Resources

- GitHub: https://github.com/leanEthereum
- leanSpec: https://github.com/leanEthereum/leanSpec
- leanSig: https://github.com/leanEthereum/leanSig
- leanMultisig: https://github.com/leanEthereum/leanMultisig
- leanSig paper: https://eprint.iacr.org/2025/055.pdf
- Protocol L1 Roadmap: https://strawmap.org
- Consensus Roadmap: https://leanroadmap.org

## Contact

- Team: Ethereum Foundation Post-Quantum Team
- Email: will@ethereum.org
- Website: https://pq.ethereum.org

## Links

- [Full website](https://pq.ethereum.org)
- [Full content for LLMs](https://pq.ethereum.org/llms-full.txt)