The SHRINCS working group posted its draft to the Bitcoin-Dev mailing list on Aug. 26. Blockstream highlighted the proposal in its Nov. 5 Q3 update as part of the company’s post-quantum work.
Blockstream’s Nov. 5 third-quarter update described the SHRINCS work as part of its preparation for future quantum-computer attacks on Bitcoin (BTC). It also described hardware-wallet testing as a distinct post-quantum effort, apart from the proposal.
Blockstream said its assessment of Falcon-1024 remained the same as in its Aug. 26 research post, which had identified it as the leading lattice-based candidate. The update described two different approaches: SHRINCS uses a hash-based design, while Falcon-1024 was assessed as a candidate built on lattice-based methods.
Blockstream Chief Marketing Officer Peter Bain has said hardware limits put a quantum computer capable of breaking Bitcoin’s cryptography decades away. Bain also said researchers were examining signature schemes and any Bitcoin changes would require consensus, according to EconoTimes’ earlier coverage of his quantum-resilience comments.
