PostQuantumEVM

A Post-Quantum Cryptography EVM Blockchain

Important

Preparing blockchain systems for the post-quantum era. This project replaces all ECDSA/secp256k1 primitives with ML-DSA-65 (NIST FIPS 204) and demonstrates a fully post-quantum resistant EVM chain.

Overview

PostQuantumEVM is an Ethereum execution client hardened against quantum adversaries. Built as a non-invasive extension of reth, it replaces every classical elliptic-curve primitive with NIST-standardized post-quantum algorithms while maintaining full EVM compatibility.

Classical (Ethereum)	Post-Quantum (PQ-EVM)	Standard
ECDSA / secp256k1	ML-DSA-65 (Dilithium)	NIST FIPS 204
ECDH / secp256k1	ML-KEM-768 (Kyber)	NIST FIPS 203
Keccak-256 (protocol hash)	SHAKE-256	NIST FIPS 202
ecrecover precompile	ML-DSA verify precompile (`0x0100`)	---

Chain ID: 20561 | Native Token: qETH (18 decimals) | Tx Type: 0x50

Quick Start

Prerequisites

Rust 1.84+ (rustup)
Docker 24+ (for multi-validator deployment)
Git (with submodule support)

1. Clone

git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/0xGeN02/PostQuantumEVM.git
cd PostQuantumEVM

2. Run a Single Node (Dev Mode)

cd pq-reth
cargo run -p pq-reth --bin pq-reth -- node \
  --chain bin/pq-reth/genesis.json \
  --dev \
  --dev.block-time 5s \
  --http \
  --http.api eth,net,web3

The node starts on http://localhost:8545 with a pre-funded genesis (10k qETH per account).

3. Use the Wallet

cd pq-wallet

# Generate a new ML-DSA-65 keypair
cargo run --bin pq-wallet -- new --output keystore.json

# Check balance
cargo run --bin pq-wallet -- balance --keystore keystore.json --rpc http://localhost:8545

# Send a transaction
cargo run --bin pq-wallet -- send \
  --keystore keystore.json \
  --to 0x1111111111111111111111111111111111111111 \
  --value 1000000000000000000 \
  --rpc http://localhost:8545

4. Launch the TUI Dashboard

cd pq-wallet
cargo run --bin pq-tui

4-tab terminal dashboard: Wallet, Transactions, Blocks, Network. Hotkeys: s=Send, d=Deploy, c=Call, r=Refresh, q=Quit.

5. Multi-Validator PoA (Docker)

# Generate 3 validator keys
./scripts/generate-validator-keys.sh

# Build and start 3 validators
docker compose build
docker compose up -d

# RPC endpoints:
#   Validator 1: http://localhost:8545
#   Validator 2: http://localhost:8546
#   Validator 3: http://localhost:8547

6. Seed the Chain with Demo Data

cd pq-wallet
cargo run --bin pq-seed -- \
  --rpc http://localhost:8545 \
  --keystore keystore.json \
  --passphrase <your-passphrase> \
  --transfers 10 \
  --contract-calls 5

Sends transfers (varying amounts), deploys a SimpleStorage contract, and makes store() calls.

Architecture

PostQuantumEVM/
├── pq-reth/                        # Forked reth (git submodule)
│   ├── bin/pq-reth/                # Binary + genesis.json
│   └── crates/pq/
│       ├── reth-pq-primitives      # PqSignedTransaction, RLP, Compact codec
│       ├── reth-pq-consensus       # ML-DSA-65 transaction validation
│       ├── reth-pq-precompile      # ML-DSA-65 verify precompile at 0x0100
│       ├── reth-pq-pool            # Mempool validator (sig verification + state)
│       ├── reth-pq-evm             # PqEvmFactory, disabled classical precompiles
│       ├── reth-pq-node-primitives # PqPrimitives (NodePrimitives impl)
│       ├── reth-pq-node            # PqNode, engine, RPC, payload builder
│       └── reth-pq-poa             # PoA engine (ML-DSA-65 block sealing)
├── ml-lattice-rs/                  # PQ crypto library (git submodule)
│   ├── dilithium/                  # ML-DSA-65 (FIPS 204)
│   └── kyber/                      # ML-KEM-768 (FIPS 203)
├── pq-wallet/                      # Wallet ecosystem
│   ├── pq-wallet-core/             # Core library (keygen, signer, RPC, tx)
│   ├── pq-wallet-cli/              # CLI binary (pq-wallet)
│   ├── pq-wallet-tui/              # TUI dashboard (pq-tui)
│   ├── pq-chain-seeder/            # Chain seeder for demos (pq-seed)
│   └── pq-e2e-test/                # E2E validation framework (pq-e2e)
├── qiskit-api/                     # Quantum attack simulation (Shor/Grover)
├── contracts/                      # Solidity PQ precompile interfaces (Foundry)
├── benchmarks/                     # Criterion.rs benchmarks
├── e2e/                            # E2E orchestration
│   ├── k8s/                        # Kubernetes manifests (3-validator cluster)
│   └── run-e2e.sh                  # Orchestration script
├── scripts/                        # Tooling scripts
│   └── generate-validator-keys.sh  # ML-DSA-65 validator key generation
├── Dockerfile.pq-reth              # Multi-stage Docker build
└── docker-compose.yml              # 3-validator PoA Docker Compose

Transaction Format

PQ transactions use EIP-2718 type 0x50 ('P' for Post-Quantum).

0x50 || RLP([chain_id, nonce, gas_price, gas_limit, to, value, input,
             signature (3309 B), public_key (1952 B)])

Field	Classical tx	PQ tx
Signature	65 B (r, s, v)	3 309 B
Public key	0 B (recovered via ecrecover)	1 952 B
Total overhead	~110 B	~5 314 B

Consensus: Proof of Authority (PoA)

PostQuantumEVM uses round-robin PoA with ML-DSA-65 block sealing:

Fixed validator set (3 by default)
Each validator signs blocks on their turn
5-second slot time (configurable via slot_time_ms)
Block seal = ML-DSA-65 signature over the block hash
No BLS aggregation (quantum-vulnerable)

Configuration: PQ_POA_CONFIG=/path/to/poa-config.json

Key Sizes

	Classical Ethereum	PostQuantumEVM	Ratio
Private key	32 B	4 032 B	126x
Public key	64 B	1 952 B	30x
Signature	65 B	3 309 B	51x
Address	20 B	20 B	1x

Address derivation: shake256(public_key_bytes, 32)[12..]

Documentation

Document	Description
docs/README.md	Full technical documentation index
docs/NODE.md	Node architecture, Docker/K8s deployment
docs/WALLET.md	Wallet, TUI, keystore, signing
docs/CONSENSUS.md	PoA consensus mechanism
docs/GAS_COST_ANALYSIS.md	Gas pricing and throughput analysis
e2e/k8s/README.md	Kubernetes deployment guide

Author

0xGeN02 Building secure and scalable systems at the intersection of cryptography and distributed systems. GitHub Profile

Preparing blockchain systems for the quantum era.

0xGeN02/PostQuantumEVM

README