Blockchains verify thousands of validator signatures by bundling them into a single proof, but today's method could be broken by future quantum computers. Quantum-safe signatures exist, but b
Blockchains verify thousands of validator signatures by bundling them into a single proof, but today's method could be broken by future quantum computers. Quantum-safe signatures exist, but bundling them quickly has been hard. New research from @LayerZero_Core aims to close that gap.
The system, called Aerie, was developed with @a16zcrypto, Carnegie Mellon University and Imperial College London. LayerZero Labs says it can aggregate 32,768 quantum-resistant Falcon signatures in 0.65 seconds on an Apple laptop without GPU acceleration. So far it has only been tested in benchmarks and is not used on any live blockchain.
Proof-of-stake networks rely on validators signing messages that confirm the state of the chain, and other participants must check those signatures. According to the paper, Ethereum currently uses BLS signatures to combine roughly 32,000 validator votes into a small signature. BLS does not withstand quantum attacks, while the post-quantum alternatives selected by US standards officials lack the same built-in aggregation capability.
The wider migration is already under way. NIST finalized its first post-quantum cryptography standards in August 2024, and regulators are pointing at 2030 to 2035 transition windows. At the same time, no public cryptographically relevant quantum computer exists today.
The test ran on a MacBook Pro with an Apple M4 Max chip, using 16 CPU cores and no GPU acceleration, with peak memory use of about 2.1 GiB.Compared with the earlier Orthus solution, LayerZero says Aerie improves proof generation speed by about 1.5x, verification speed by 38x, and reduces proof size by about 1.7x.Aerie also supports aggregation of ML-DSA signatures standardized by NIST, with detailed performance figures to be released later.
There are trade-offs. Aerie outperforms Ethereum's leanVM in proof generation speed, though leanVM verifies faster, which highlights a trade-off between proof size and verification speed. Lattice-based systems also carry their own implementation challenges, and Ethereum has not committed to adopting Aerie, with its proposed quantum-resistant architecture still under development.
For now, Aerie is a research result rather than a deployed upgrade. Its practical value will depend on independent review, real-world testing and whether networks choose to adopt it as they plan for a post-quantum future.
crypto.news: LayerZero unveils Aerie with 0.65-second quantum-safe signature benchmarkCrypto Briefing: a16z unveils Aerie to improve quantum resistant signature aggregation for EthereumBlockchain Council: Post-quantum security in crypto after NIST standards
