Starknet Executes First Post-Quantum Bitcoin Transaction on Mainnet

The Starknet Foundation has successfully executed the first post-quantum-resistant Bitcoin transaction on the mainnet. The achievement is significant as it demonstrates a solution to protect against future quantum attacks without requiring a network-wide fork or core protocol upgrades.

According to Damian Chen, VP of growth at the Starknet Foundation, this milestone was made possible by the company's latest method, developed by researcher Avihu Levy. The approach involves 'signature grinding,' which generates millions of signature candidates until one with a specific structural property is found that doesn't expose vulnerable material while waiting in the mempool.

This new transaction format, dubbed QSB (Quantum-Safe Bitcoin), adds an extra layer of security by introducing a new hash authorization. Chen emphasized that even if attackers have access to a fund's private keys, they wouldn't be able to make fraudulent transfers using this method.

It's worth noting that ordinary Bitcoin nodes currently don't recognize the non-standard transaction format, so it couldn't go into the public mempool and instead had to be handed straight to a miner willing to accept it. MARA's Slipstream service was the one that mined the QSB transaction.