What does Algorand need for Stage 5 (Escape hatch)?

Stage 5 needs U live with an approved mechanism and PQ-only funds at rest (is: live-pq, mechanism: FN-DSA, hold: pq) Stage 5 needs a valid audit of the deployed PQ code (not claimed) Stage 5 needs C at least in-dev (is: planned)

Blockchain Quantum Readiness Index / Algorand

L1 · Algorand

Algorand

Users can already hold funds in native post-quantum Falcon accounts, introduced in August 2026, and existing accounts can switch to a Falcon key without changing address. Consensus still runs on elliptic-curve keys (the foundation's roadmap targets post-quantum consensus by the end of 2027), there is no official bridge, and no retirement date for the old key type has been agreed. Falcon is not yet a finished NIST standard.

Stage 4Live option

40/100progress index (55 before caps) · 100% researched · 60% in scope

Last reviewed 2026-10-19

Is Algorand quantum safe?

Not yet. Algorand is at Stage 4 (Live option) in LimeChain's Blockchain Quantum Readiness Index, with a progress score of 40/100. Users can already hold funds under a post-quantum key on mainnet, but it does not yet meet the escape-hatch bar: an approved standard, a current audit and post-quantum consensus work.

Exposed (0 pts)Unknown (scored as exposed)Discussed / plannedIn development / testnetLive (hybrid or PQ)Not applicable

What Algorand needs for Stage 5: Escape hatch

Stage 5 needs U live with an approved mechanism and PQ-only funds at rest (is: live-pq, mechanism: FN-DSA, hold: pq)
Stage 5 needs a valid audit of the deployed PQ code (not claimed)
Stage 5 needs C at least in-dev (is: planned)

Caps and adjustments

U: FN-DSA is a standardization candidate, not yet approved -> max 8 points, cannot pass stage gates
M: FN-DSA is a standardization candidate, not yet approved -> max 8 points, cannot pass stage gates
M: migration does not cover contracts, state -> max 6 points, not live
cap 40: users cannot hold and spend funds under a production PQ mechanism on mainnet
cap 60: consensus PQ not even on testnet

Rosette slices

Slice	State	Points	Weight	Reason & evidence
U User keys	Live (PQ) non-standard FN-DSA · Falcon-1024-deterministic · est. category 5 Falcon-1024, Algorand deterministic signing profile (not FIPS 206 FN-DSA) ⚠ Floating-point signing makes constant-time, side-channel-safe hardware wallets and secure elements harder to build. Integer-only verification leaves on-chain verification unaffected. At rest: PQ-protected at rest Native Falcon-1024 accounts (consensus v42, go-algorand v5.0.0) hash the scheme id, a salt and the Falcon public key into the address; the salt is rejection-sampled so the address is not a valid Ed25519 point. No Ed25519 key can sign for it; only the current Falcon spending key can rekey it (existing Ed25519 accounts can rekey to Falcon). Caveat: the off-curve property is enforced by SDKs/algod's submit API (skippable with skip-pq-address-check), not consensus, so addresses must use the canonical salt. Sources 6 7 8 3 1 9	8/10	25	Falcon-1024 accounts went live on mainnet in August 2026 (voted in with v5.0.0). PQ accounts are opt-in, Ed25519 remains available: not a hybrid setup. Sources 1 2 3 4 5
C Consensus	Planned	2/10	20	Proposal, voting and certification use Ed25519 and an elliptic-curve VRF; Falcon signs PQ accounts and State Proofs, not consensus messages. The foundation's June 2026 roadmap covers post-quantum consensus and a post-quantum VRF, targeting broad resilience by the end of 2027. Sources 1 10 11
P Proof system	Not applicable	—	—	L1 without a validity or fraud proof system. no evidence
B Bridges & messaging	Not applicable	—	—	No canonical bridge: the protocol's interop primitive is State Proofs, a Falcon-signed compact certificate for light-client verification, and all actual bridges are third-party. State Proofs have been live-pq with Falcon since 2022 but are not a bridge surface. Sources 1 12
A Admin & upgrade keys	Not applicable	—	—	No admin or upgrade keys: changes such as v5.0.0 ship via on-chain upgrade votes that must reach a network approval threshold. Sources 2 1
M Migration & recovery	Live (PQ) non-standard FN-DSA · Falcon-1024-deterministic · est. category 5 ⚠ Floating-point signing makes constant-time, side-channel-safe hardware wallets and secure elements harder to build. Integer-only verification leaves on-chain verification unaffected.	6/10	15	Existing Ed25519 accounts can rekey to a Falcon key on mainnet and keep their address and history (Pera Wallet supports it); after a rekey only the Falcon key authorizes the account. Nothing migrates contracts or stored state, and no ECC sunset date exists, so coverage is accounts only. Sources 2 9 6 11

Stage gates

Requirement	Status	Details & evidence
Current audit of the deployed PQ signing code (Stage 5)	Not met	not claimed
Admin timelock of at least 30 days with a PQ override (Stage 6, alternative to PQ admin keys)	Not met	not claimed
Ratified migration plan with an activation date (Stage 6)	Not met	not claimed
New accounts PQ or hybrid by default (Stage 6)	Not met	not claimed
ECC sunset enforced (Stage 7)	Not met	not claimed

PQ adoption published, not scored

No published adoption numbers were found yet. Having PQ accounts does not mean people move to them. This tracks the share of value and accounts that actually moved, over time.

Measured exposure

No on-chain probe run yet. Bitcoin, Solana, Cosmos and Substrate probes are planned.

Evidence and sources (12)

Every non-zero rating above cites at least one of these public sources.

Source: chains/algorand.json. Reproduce: python3 score.py chains/algorand.json

Building on Algorand?

LimeChain helps teams plan their post-quantum migration: what is exposed, what to change first, and the engineering to get there.

Talk to us

Open, repeatable scoring. Non-zero ratings need public evidence; missing evidence means unknown. Methodology v0.4 · mechanism registry 2026-10-13.