Quantum Bucket update: IIP-65 "Bunker Mode" is now Draft 4, featuring a full reference implementation in iotex-core 🛡️
A few weeks ago, we proposed a doomsday bunker for staked $IOTX: locking buckets with a second, hash-based key. After an independent cryptographic review, we rebuilt the authorization layer to make it bulletproof. Here is what's new:
🔒 Hardened Cryptography: The core choice of SLH-DSA (FIPS 205) remains rock-solid. We upgraded the envelope with chain-instance domains (preventing cross-network replays), recent-block anchors (capping signature life at ~7 days), and exact consent bindings via SHA-512.
🧱 Verify-First Architecture: Every guarded operation verifies all signatures before touching the staking state. No speculative writes, no rollback games.
🔑 Simple Recovery: Guard keys come from a dedicated vault seed. If your everyday ECDSA wallet is compromised, your vault mnemonic alone can rescue your buckets.
⚡ Lightning Fast: Verification takes just ~0.23 ms on an Apple M3 Pro—four orders of magnitude faster than our 2.5s block time.
Where it stands: The code (~13k lines) is running on nightly behind a feature gate. Next up: full-handler benchmarks, an external audit, and a governance vote. Nothing changes on mainnet until then.
Quantum computers or an AI-assisted math breakthrough might take years. Bunkers must be built before the storm. We're building ours now. ⛈️
📄 IIP-65 Spec: https://github.com/iotexproject/iips/pull/87
💻 Implementation: https://github.com/iotexproject/iotex-core/pull/5059
A few weeks ago, we proposed a doomsday bunker for staked $IOTX: locking buckets with a second, hash-based key. After an independent cryptographic review, we rebuilt the authorization layer to make it bulletproof. Here is what's new:
🔒 Hardened Cryptography: The core choice of SLH-DSA (FIPS 205) remains rock-solid. We upgraded the envelope with chain-instance domains (preventing cross-network replays), recent-block anchors (capping signature life at ~7 days), and exact consent bindings via SHA-512.
🧱 Verify-First Architecture: Every guarded operation verifies all signatures before touching the staking state. No speculative writes, no rollback games.
🔑 Simple Recovery: Guard keys come from a dedicated vault seed. If your everyday ECDSA wallet is compromised, your vault mnemonic alone can rescue your buckets.
⚡ Lightning Fast: Verification takes just ~0.23 ms on an Apple M3 Pro—four orders of magnitude faster than our 2.5s block time.
Where it stands: The code (~13k lines) is running on nightly behind a feature gate. Next up: full-handler benchmarks, an external audit, and a governance vote. Nothing changes on mainnet until then.
Quantum computers or an AI-assisted math breakthrough might take years. Bunkers must be built before the storm. We're building ours now. ⛈️
📄 IIP-65 Spec: https://github.com/iotexproject/iips/pull/87
💻 Implementation: https://github.com/iotexproject/iotex-core/pull/5059