AmericanFortress, a cybersecurity firm, has proposed a quantum-safe cryptographic scheme designed to protect existing cryptocurrency wallets on Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana. The proposal, announced this week, aims to address the looming threat of quantum computers breaking current encryption without forcing users to move their funds or change wallet addresses.
The quantum threat to crypto
Quantum computing isn't here yet, but the industry is already bracing. Today's wallets rely on public-key cryptography — ECDSA for Bitcoin and Ethereum, Ed25519 for Solana — that quantum machines could theoretically crack. A sufficiently powerful quantum computer could derive private keys from public ones, emptying wallets in seconds. That's not a hypothetical for 2026: researchers have warned that a quantum attack on Bitcoin could happen within a decade, and some nation-states are already stockpiling encrypted data to decrypt later.
AmericanFortress's proposal is one of the first to tackle the problem without asking users to do anything. No migration, no new addresses, no lost funds stuck in limbo.
How the scheme works
The firm's approach wraps existing wallet keys with a quantum-resistant layer. The exact cryptographic primitives haven't been detailed publicly, but the core promise is backward compatibility: the same address can receive funds using the old scheme while the wallet's owner signs transactions with the new quantum-safe method. That means users don't have to generate new keys or broadcast new addresses to their contacts.
For Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana — three chains with vastly different architectures — the scheme would need to be implemented at the protocol or client level. AmericanFortress says the design is flexible enough to work across UTXO and account-based models, but the technical specifics will matter. A whitepaper is expected in the coming weeks.
For now, nothing changes. The proposal is just that — a proposal. If adopted, wallet software would need to be updated to support the new signing method. Exchanges and custodians would have to integrate the scheme on their end. But the key selling point is that end users wouldn't need to lift a finger. No panic to move funds, no risk of losing access during a migration.
The timing isn't accidental. Earlier this year, the National Institute of Standards and Technology finalized its post-quantum cryptography standards, giving the crypto industry a clear set of algorithms to aim for. AmericanFortress's scheme is designed to align with those standards, making it easier for developers to adopt.
The proposal is now open for community review. AmericanFortress plans to release a technical paper and solicit feedback from developers on Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana. Whether the major client teams will integrate the scheme — and how quickly — remains the open question.
