StarkWare Achieves First Quantum-Resistant Bitcoin Transaction on Mainnet
StarkWare has achieved a significant milestone in the development of quantum-resistant Bitcoin transactions. The company's researcher, Avihu Levy, successfully tested an experimental transaction on the mainnet, demonstrating a way to protect individual outputs under Bitcoin's current rules.
The transaction, which spent a 10,000-satoshi output in block 964,199 without altering Bitcoin's consensus rules, was submitted directly to a cooperating miner through MARA Pool's Slipstream service. This non-standard classification under Bitcoin Core's default relay policy is a practical constraint, requiring prepared transactions and direct miner access.
The transaction cost around $150 to $200 in computation, with the process taking hours. StarkWare CEO Eli Ben-Sasson emphasized that QSB provides a safety net while protocol-level protections are developed, establishing a workaround under existing rules rather than changing Bitcoin's underlying cryptography across the network.