The Binance-founded BNB Chain (BSC) latest post-quantum cryptography test suggests blockchain networks can begin preparing for a quantum future today, but the cost may be steep: roughly 40% lower transaction throughput.
BSC is one of the largest Ethereum-compatible blockchains by transaction volume, making it a useful test case for whether high-throughput networks can realistically absorb post-quantum security upgrades.
In a new proof of concept, BSC replaced two of its most important cryptographic systems, ECDSA transaction signatures and BLS12-381 validator vote signatures, with quantum-resistant alternatives. The result worked, but cross-region native-transfer throughput fell from 4,973 transactions per second to 2,997, a roughly 40% drop, as much larger signatures pushed more data across the network.
ECDSA is the digital signature system used to prove ownership of funds on most blockchains.
Every time a user sends crypto, they sign the transaction using a private key. BLS12-381, meanwhile, is commonly used behind the scenes by validators, the computers responsible for confirming blocks and helping keep a blockchain in sync. Validator vote signatures allow those operators to attest that a block is valid and finalized.
Both systems rely on elliptic-curve cryptography, which researchers believe could eventually be broken by sufficiently powerful quantum computers using Shor’s algorithm.
BSC’s quantum test explained
In BSC’s test, a typical transaction grew from roughly 110 bytes to about 2.5 kilobytes, while block sizes expanded from about 130 KB to roughly 2 MB. The result was a roughly 40% drop in transaction throughput, not because the blockchain struggled to verify the transactions, but because moving all that extra data became the bottleneck.
Not every part of the network was hit equally.
The behind-the-scenes systems that help validators confirm and finalize blocks held up relatively well because BSC found an efficient way to compress those security checks.
The bigger strain came from ordinary user transactions, where every payment had to carry a much larger quantum-resistant digital signature, adding significantly more data to the network.
Quantum-proof blockchains
Other blockchain networks are exploring their own quantum defenses, but there is no industry-wide fix yet.
Bitcoin developers are weighing longer-term upgrades such as BIP-360, which would add quantum-resistant protections directly into the protocol, while separate researchers have proposed emergency workarounds that could function under today’s rules, though at significantly higher cost per transaction.
Ethereum is taking a slower but broader approach. Rather than testing a single swap of its current security systems, the Ethereum Foundation has launched a dedicated post-quantum security initiative aimed at gradually upgrading wallets, validator infrastructure, and deeper parts of the network over several years.
TRON is taking a faster, more aggressive approach. Founder Justin Sun has said the protocol plans to launch a quantum-resistant testnet in Q2, followed by a mainnet rollout in Q3, positioning TRON as a contender to become one of the first major blockchains to market itself as quantum-safe.
BSC’s experiment suggests the crypto industry is entering a new phase in the quantum debate. The question is no longer whether blockchains can be made more resistant to future quantum attacks, but how much speed and efficiency networks are willing to sacrifice to get there.
CORRECTION (May 19, 12:15 UTC): Amends first bullet point and first paragraph to describe “Binance-founded” rather than suggesting it is owned by Binance.