TRON Tests Post-Quantum Signatures, Raises Capacity Concerns

TRON is testing post-quantum signatures to protect transactions against future quantum-computing attacks. The security benefit comes at a trade-off, as larger signatures take up more data and leave less room for transactions in each block.

The testnet proposal, TIP-899, adds two post-quantum signature options: Falcon-512 and ML-DSA-44. These signatures are designed to resist attacks from advanced quantum computers but require more data than current ECDSA signatures.

TRON estimates that the size of these signatures will reduce transaction capacity, with a full adoption of ML-DSA-44 reducing TPS by 95%. However, this is a worst-case scenario, and actual usage may be limited to specific cases or mixed networks. The proposal still needs governance approval before being activated on mainnet.