CEOs, CTOs and founders from nine blockchain organisations have launched the Quantum Alliance, an open standards body meant to define what “post-quantum readiness” means for networks, wallets and infrastructure — and how to test any claim of quantum resistance. The announcement was published via The Quantum Insider on 15 October 2026.
The Alliance’s outputs are plans. Nothing in the release makes a major chain quantum-safe today.
Who is in it
Founding contributors named in the release:
- Christopher Smith (Quantus)
- Michal “Mehow” Pospieszalski (American Fortress)
- Leona Hioki (Intmax)
- Aaron Chen (Keystone)
- Sebastien Guillemot (Midnight Foundation)
- Colton Dillion and Dr Richard T. Carback III (Postquant Labs / Quip Network)
- Richard Lee (Abelian)
- Bryn Bennett (The Vault)
- Katina Messinis (Hacken)
Member blurbs span base-layer protocols, privacy networks, rollups, hardware wallets, addressing, security auditing and quantum-compute marketplaces. Several already sell or build post-quantum products — Quantus (ML-DSA from genesis), Abelian (lattice-based L1), Keystone (hardware wallets), The Vault (PQC custody), and others.
What they say they will publish first
The first body of work is a public definition of quantum readiness covering:
- Transaction signatures
- Key management
- Consensus
- Zero-knowledge proof systems
- Peer-to-peer connections
They also pledge open test criteria and benchmarks any team can run, plus migration reference designs for exposed keys, dormant accounts and the larger transactions post-quantum signatures produce. Everything is to be published openly.
Work starts in four groups: blockchain migration; post-quantum zero-knowledge systems; wallet security; and cross-chain compatibility.
Governance model
The Alliance says it is modeled on the Internet Engineering Task Force: open to individual contributors, with proposals advancing on public evidence, rough consensus and working implementations. “Corporate size and token holdings will carry no voting weight.” The release’s join URL is still a placeholder (“at URL”).
Christopher Smith, Quantus CEO, said: “In the future, ‘post-quantum cryptography’ will just be called ‘cryptography’ and everything else will be in a museum.” The intention, he said, is to front-load complex decisions so others can “pull [standards] off the shelf as the industry migrates.”
Why a shared bar matters
Elliptic-curve signatures still secure most public-chain accounts. Once a public key is on-chain, a future cryptographically relevant quantum computer running Shor’s algorithm is the theoretical threat model the industry debates. NIST has finalised post-quantum standards, but no single party can order a live blockchain to adopt them, and “quantum-ready” has meant different things to different teams. TSN has covered Coinbase’s Bitcoin quantum-safe position, Europol/Ethereum wallet-key debates, Sui’s ML-DSA-65 devnet work, TRON’s PQC testnet claims and BIP 361 — all pieces of a fragmented migration conversation.
The Alliance’s pitch is a common yardstick so a single demo (for example a special quantum-safe output) is not confused with network-wide readiness.
Caveats — read these
- This is a self-declared body of mostly small firms that already have post-quantum products to sell or promote.
- No Bitcoin, Ethereum or other major chain foundation is listed as a member.
- The release’s join link is a placeholder.
- Per TSN’s research brief, several dramatic third-party figures in the release packaging — including a 6.04 million BTC “quantum-exposed” tally, specific qubit and IonQ attack estimates, and a “Quantum Doom Clock” date — are not used here because they were not independently verified against originals for this draft.
What to watch next
- Whether the four working groups publish actual criteria and benchmarks
- Whether any major L1 foundation or large custodian joins
- Adoption of Alliance tests by auditors and exchanges
Sources
- The Quantum Insider (press release), “Quantum Alliance Launches to Set Post-Quantum Standards for Blockchains”, 15 October 2026. https://thequantuminsider.com/2026/10/15/quantum-alliance-post-quantum-standards-blockchains/
Related stories
- Coinbase Sets Out What It Wants From Bitcoin’s Move to Quantum-Safe Signatures
- Quantum and wallet keys: Europol says the risk is exposed keys, and Ethereum researchers urge a careful move
- Sui Adds ML-DSA-65 Quantum-Safe Signatures in Its Latest Devnet Release
- Justin Sun Says TRON’s Post-Quantum Cryptography Is Live on Testnet; Mainnet Readiness Is His Claim
- BIP 361: Bitcoin’s Quantum Wake-Up Call — What It Means for Your BTC
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