XRPL flips to quantum-safe signatures; 2,420-byte proofs replace elliptic curves

The XRP Ledger (XRPL) has integrated post-quantum cryptography and native smart contracts into its developer network, AlphaNet, to prepare for the threat of quantum computing, often referred to as "Q-Day."

The update replaces Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) with CRYSTALS-Dilithium (ML-DSA), a lattice-based mathematics standard recently adopted by NIST. This change affects Quantum Accounts, Quantum Transactions, and Quantum Consensus, ensuring that even powerful quantum machines running Shor’s algorithm cannot derive private keys or forge signatures.

However, this security upgrade introduces significant trade-offs: Dilithium signatures are much larger (2,420 bytes versus 64 bytes for ECDSA), which increases bandwidth consumption, latency, and storage costs for node operators. The pilot aims to study these performance impacts. Concurrently, the introduction of native smart contracts addresses a long-standing competitive gap, allowing developers to build complex DeFi applications directly on the base chain, moving XRPL beyond simple payment processing.

(Source：CryptoSlate)