In the race to fight the future threat of quantum computing, BNB Chain has completed a major test of its post-quantum security upgrade. The test showed that the network can be protected against future quantum threats, but it also exposed a key challenge.
During the trial, transaction speed dropped by nearly 40%, raising concerns about whether blockchains can stay fast while upgrading for the quantum era.
BNB Chain Tests Quantum-Resistant Upgrade
BNB Chain recently released its “BSC Post-Quantum Cryptography Migration Report,” outlining how the network tested quantum-resistant technology across transaction signatures and validator consensus systems.
The testing used ML-DSA-44, also known as Dilithium, for transaction signatures alongside pqSTARK technology for consensus vote aggregation.
According to the report, the upgrade remained compatible with existing wallets, addresses, SDKs, and RPC infrastructure, meaning users would not need to completely rebuild their current systems during migration.
The goal of the project is to prepare BNB Smart Chain for future quantum computing risks before they become real-world threats.
Why Quantum Computing Matters for Blockchain
Most blockchain networks today still rely heavily on elliptic curve cryptography systems like ECDSA and BLS12-381.
Future quantum computers could eventually break many of these systems using advanced algorithms like Shor’s algorithm, potentially threatening wallet security, transaction signatures, and blockchain consensus systems.
To prepare for that possibility, BNB Chain began testing newer quantum-resistant cryptographic standards recently approved by NIST under the FIPS 204 framework.
The migration report emphasized that quantum computing is not yet powerful enough to break existing production blockchains today, but developers believe preparation must begin years in advance.
Binance Network Speed Falls by 40%
While the security testing succeeded technically, the performance costs turned out to be significant.
According to BNB Chain, transaction signature size increased dramatically from roughly 65 bytes to nearly 2,420 bytes after moving to post-quantum signatures.
At the same time, average transaction size expanded from around 110 bytes to nearly 2.5KB.
That increase caused major pressure on network bandwidth and data propagation speeds.
The testing showed that in high-traffic conditions, transaction speed between different regions dropped by around 40% to 50%.
However, BNB Chain noted that the consensus system itself remained relatively efficient, with pqSTARK aggregation still achieving strong signature compression performance.
The report concluded that post-quantum blockchain security is technically achievable today, but solving future bandwidth and data scalability challenges will become critical before any full production deployment happens across major blockchain networks
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