NOW LIVE 🎥: Formal Functional Correctness of libsecp256k1's Modular Inverse
Featuring: Russell O’Connor
Standardized parameter sets for hash-based signatures weren’t chosen for Bitcoin.
For a SHRINCS proposal, we can trade some of SLH-DSA's enormous signature budget for smaller signatures and cheaper verification. We searched 25,935 parameter sets and found a 5.7 kB candidate, 26% smaller. That trade-off reduces the signature budget from 2^64 to 2^40. In return, signing is 23% cheaper and verification 28% cheaper.
Try the parameter explorer:
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Silent payments (BIP352) in libsecp256k1
An aggregate signature lets multiple signers each sign a different message, then combine everything into one compact signature that proves who signed what. @real_or_random explains the primitive behind Cross-Input Signature Aggregation.
Full talk at Eurocrypt below. ⬇️
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Aaand, it got solved! The challenge was to find a hidden mnemonic in the Taproot leaves of the 12 provided UTXOs. Will definitely create another CTF in the future, but much more difficult this time. So stay tuned. Congratulations to the solver!
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Stateful signatures trade systemic risk for localized risk. The failure mode is confined to individual wallets, not the network. @n1ckler at @TheBitcoinConf 2026 on why that's the better trade-off to explore.
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After 7 years, Blockstream Research Director @n1ckler is stepping back as a libsecp256k1 maintainer, leaving the library in the strong hands of its other long-time maintainers. @blksresearch remains a key contributor.
Learn more about this cryptographic library that secures every Bitcoin and @Liquid_BTC transaction. ⬇️
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Systemic risk vs localized risk. That's the core argument for exploring stateful hash-based signatures in Bitcoin.
@blksresearch Director @n1ckler on why standardized post-quantum schemes create risks for everyone, and why SHRINCS moves that risk to where it can be managed.
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I'm hyped to announce that I am Brink's first-ever grantee to focus on Bitcoin's post-quantum crypto R&D 🎉🤓 This funding will help me focus full-time as I collaborate with @blksresearch to draft a balanced, efficient, and secure PQ signature upgrade.
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At @OPNEXT2026, our Director @n1ckler explained how a soft fork could add post-quantum security to Bitcoin's Taproot tree.
Outputs commit to both Schnorr and PQ keys. Schnorr signatures stay cheap. The PQ path sits dormant until a cryptographically relevant quantum computer emerges.
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The results are in from the Blockstream Turin Simplicity Hackathon. 20 developers spent a weekend building real smart contracts on Simplicity covenant DEXs, inheritance tools, post-quantum wallets, and more.
First place goes to: PQ Liquid Wallet, taking home $3,000 in bitcoin: PQ Liquid Wallet is the first wallet to test Blockstream's research on protecting Bitcoin from future quantum computers.
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How can we build Schnorr-like signatures from lattice assumptions?
In Ep. 1 of the Blockstream Research Seminar, @ZamDmytro explains lattice-based signatures and their role in the search for practical post-quantum cryptography for Bitcoin.
Watch here:
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Hash-based signatures are the most conservative post-quantum option for Bitcoin. Lattice-based cryptography could be what comes next, potentially opening the door to post-quantum multisignatures, zero-knowledge proofs, and confidential assets.
Read the latest from @blksresearch. 🔗 ⬇️
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Optimized stateful hash-based signatures can offer better trade-offs than the standard schemes available today.
SHRINCS is live on @Liquid_BTC in production today via Simplicity. @n1ckler at @OPNEXT2026 on why this may allow Bitcoin to operate in a post-quantum world without betting on specific future software.
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There is no concrete post-quantum signature scheme for Bitcoin today.
But over the last year @blksresearch has been working on exactly this. Director Jonas Nick (@n1ckler) lays out the proposal: OP_CHECKSHRINCS, a hash-based signature opcode for post-quantum Bitcoin.
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SHRINCS reaches up to 3 TPS on the compact path. 580-byte signatures from a dedicated signing device. A stateless fallback always available. Already demonstrated on @Liquid_BTC. The C++ implementation, Simplicity verifier, & draft spec are all on GitHub.
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Our Director @n1ckler on SHRINCS and SHRIMPS at @OPNEXT2026:
SHRINCS converts systemic quantum network risk into localized device risk. Localized risk can be managed.
SHRIMPS adds a second compact path for backup devices: ~3,000 bytes vs 580 bytes primary, 0.87 TPS vs 0.36 TPS baseline.
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Jonas Nick (@n1ckler) joined a technical panel on the open source stage at Bitcoin 2026 to discuss post-quantum signature schemes for Bitcoin, sharing why @blksresearch has been exploring hash-based signatures as the safer path forward.
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