Project Eleven Develops Technology to Prove Bitcoin Ownership After Quantum Threat Becomes Reality

Proving Wallet Ownership After Q Day

Project Eleven, which is working on countermeasures against quantum computer risks for cryptocurrencies, announced on the 15th a technology to prove ownership of Bitcoin (BTC) wallets after Q Day.

This is based on the assumption that signatures can be forged by quantum computers. If quantum computers can derive private keys from public keys, then valid signatures could be generated by parties other than the legitimate owners.

The method developed by Project Eleven is designed to prove wallet ownership in such cases, utilizing the wallet's key derivation path.

This allows users to prove they control the parent key (the key from which each private key is derived) used to generate the wallet's private key without revealing that parent key. It employs a zero-knowledge proof system.

Currently, it is believed that even if quantum computers can break the private keys of each address, they cannot derive the parent key from which those private keys are generated through computation. Thus, only the legitimate owner can prove knowledge of the parent key.

Alex Pruden, CEO of Project Eleven, stated:
"I hope people around the world take the transition plan to quantum-resistant addresses seriously, but in reality, some cryptocurrency wallets will miss the transition period."

However, with this technology, even after the transition window closes, a means of proving ownership through parent key derivation rather than signatures will be available.

Additionally, it can be applied to wallets that use BIP32 (a standard for generating countless private keys hierarchically from a master seed).

This method is widely supported in many current cryptocurrency wallets and blockchain ecosystems. According to Project Eleven, similar approaches can be implemented on chains adopting SLIP-0010 (such as Solana, Sui, Aptos, etc.).

It should be noted that the technology announced this time is in the early prototype stage, and third-party audits have not yet been conducted. For actual asset recovery to be possible, each blockchain must adopt this verification logic at the protocol level.

Industry Trends in Quantum Countermeasures

Discussions on quantum computer countermeasures are becoming increasingly active in the industry.

In June, Coinbase's Quantum Technology Advisory Committee emphasized that each blockchain should immediately advance technical plans and preparations to achieve post-quantum (quantum-resistant) signatures, stating that approximately 7 million BTC are currently vulnerable to quantum attacks.

In major blockchains, including Bitcoin, discussions on transition plans to new methods with quantum resistance have already begun, but actual transitions require coordination among many stakeholders, including users, exchanges, custodians, and miners, which is expected to be challenging.

Additionally, there remains the issue of how to handle wallets that could not move assets by the transition deadline, suggesting that discussions across the industry are likely to intensify going forward.

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