Researchers from Texas A&M University–East created PQLN (Post-Quantum Lightning Network) — the first practical update to the Lightning Network that protects it from future attacks by quantum computers.

There are still no powerful quantum computers, and while many projects are talking about security simply to capitalize on the hype surrounding this topic, the PQLN idea addresses the decryption vulnerability right now. At the same time, it’s possible to do without hard forks; there’s no need to change the consensus of Bitcoin itself. The update concerns only the LN infrastructure. New quantum‑protected nodes will be able to work seamlessly with old classical nodes without splitting the network.

However, there was a compromise, and it lies in the significantly increased traffic volume: post‑node keys and signatures weigh much more than regular ones. For example, a new node consumes 270 megabytes of traffic during synchronization, compared to 26 megabytes for a standard node.



Source: https://x.com/BitcoinNewsCom/status/2102397121055818172