Sonic releases a quantum-resistant roadmap: upgrade can be completed by simply replacing the signature algorithm

Odaily reports that Sonic has provided a detailed explanation of its technology pathway for the "post-quantum era." Sonic points out that most current PoS public blockchains rely on elliptic curve signatures (such as ECDSA and Ed25519), which are at risk of being compromised once quantum computing (for example, Shor's algorithm) matures.

Sonic states that the industry is exploring quantum-resistant cryptographic solutions (such as hash-based schemes like XMSS and SPHINCS+, and lattice-based schemes like Dilithium and Falcon). However, mainstream consensus mechanisms commonly rely on BLS aggregate signatures and threshold signatures, so migrating to a quantum-resistant system will face challenges in terms of performance, bandwidth, and architectural overhaul.

In contrast, Sonic's SonicCS consensus protocol does not depend on aggregate signatures or global randomness; it only uses single-node signatures and hash functions to construct a DAG structure. Therefore, when switching to quantum-resistant cryptography, it only requires replacing the signature algorithm to complete the upgrade, without needing to modify consensus logic or network architecture.

Sonic emphasizes that this design will significantly reduce the complexity of migrating to quantum-resistant security in the future, enabling the network to better adapt when the threat of quantum computing arises.