⚛️ Quantum armor at the old price
Imagine your wallet is protected by a lock that a quantum computer could crack in about ten years. No such computer exists yet, but it’s best to prepare before one arrives. That’s what people at the XRP Ledger are thinking about.
What they’re proposing: replace the signatures used to verify payments with “post-quantum” ones. They’re based on mathematics that even a quantum machine can’t crack. They want to apply the new protection not just to payments, but also to validators and communication between nodes.
What’s the cost? It’s charged by weight. The new signature is much larger than the current one. Comparing a regular payment with a new one, it looks roughly like this:
regular payment: 1,704 bytes
quantum-protected: 5,331 bytes
It’s like sending a package in heavy-duty armor: the contents are the same, but it weighs three times as much.
What about the fee? For now, they’re proposing to keep it unchanged, so you’ll pay the same amount. But heavier payments put more strain on the network: nodes need more bandwidth and storage for the transaction history. So in early 2027, the Foundation will conduct a study and decide whether a separate surcharge is needed for “heavy” transactions.
When will all this happen? Not tomorrow:
This is a draft for now, not an adopted decision.
Exactly how to migrate old accounts hasn’t been decided yet. Simply adding a new key isn’t enough: the old one will remain and be a weak point.
Ripple is aiming for a full transition by 2028.
Any change must be approved by validators through a vote.
Should you panic? No. Ripple says plainly that assets aren’t at risk today. This is like fixing the roof in good weather, before the downpour starts.
XRP and RLUSD aren’t competitors
