Knowledge
Post quantum, explained
Why a quantum computer threatens ordinary Bitcoin, what post quantum cryptography does about it, and the signatures that make BTX safe. Plain language, every claim cited, with the deep material a click away on postquantum.wiki. For the direct side by side, see BTX vs Bitcoin.
Start with these
The ideas that explain why BTX exists. Each opens its cited entry on the wiki.
The quantum threat to BitcoinA large quantum computer running Shor's algorithm could forge the ECDSA signatures that guard ordinary Bitcoin and spend from any exposed public key. This is the problem BTX is built to remove.Shor's algorithm Harvest now, decrypt laterAdversaries can record encrypted data and dormant coins today and break them the day a quantum computer arrives. It is why migrating early, before the machine exists, matters.Read the entry Post quantum cryptographyThe families of cryptography believed to hold up against a quantum attacker: lattice, hash, code and multivariate based schemes. The lattice and hash families are the ones NIST has standardized so far.Read the entry ML-DSA, the signature BTX usesThe NIST-standardized lattice signature (FIPS 204) that authorizes every BTX spend, paired with the hash-based SLH-DSA for recovery.ML-DSA SLH-DSAThe stateless hash-based signature (FIPS 205) that rests only on the security of hash functions, the most conservative post quantum assumption there is.SLH-DSA Q-DayThe hypothetical day a quantum computer can break today's public-key cryptography. No one knows the date, which is exactly why the defense has to be in place first.Q-Day
Browse the whole map
Eight categories, 155 cited entries. Jump into any of them on postquantum.wiki.
Foundations12The quantum threat and the public-key replacement.Quantum computing22The machines, the companies, and where they really are.Quantum physics17The theory, the physicists and the core ideas.Standards & algorithms11NIST: ML-KEM, ML-DSA, SLH-DSA, FN-DSA, HQC.Migration & practice12TLS, SSH, PKI, protocols and libraries.Blockchain & quantum5Where Bitcoin and blockchains are exposed, and the fixes.Ecosystem9BTX projects, maintained by the wiki team.Glossary67Precise definitions of every term in one place.
How this shows up in BTX
The theory above is not abstract on BTX, it is the consensus.
Signatures
BTX spends are authorized with ML-DSA-44 and recovered with SLH-DSA, the NIST post quantum standards, in place from genesis rather than promised later.
Addresses
Coins live in P2MR (Pay to Merkle Root) outputs, a post quantum output type, so a captured public key does not expose the coins.
The threat it answers
Ordinary Bitcoin signs with ECDSA, which Shor's algorithm breaks on a large quantum computer. BTX removes that exposure at the signature layer.