Project Eleven secures $6M funding to shield Bitcoin from quantum computing threats. Their innovative Yellowpages registry lets users create quantum-resistant proofs of ownership without blockchain modifications, offering a practical solution to future cryptographic vulnerabilities.
Project Eleven has raised $6 million to protect bitcoin BTC from the existential threat of quantum computing, as fears mount that the network's core cryptography could one day be rendered obsolete.
The round was co-led by Variant Fund and Quantonation, with participation from Castle Island Ventures alongside founding investors Nebular and Formation, according to a release.
"As quantum computing capabilities advance, the threat to systems like Bitcoin is no longer theoretical, it's imminent," Alex Pruden, CEO of Project Eleven, said in a release.
"This funding allows us to stay ahead of that curve, building the tools, standards, and ecosystem required to ensure digital assets remain secure in a post-quantum world," Pruden said.
Earlier this year, Project Eleven launched the Q-Day Prize, offering 1 BTC to the first team that can break Bitcoin's elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) using a quantum computer.
"We define Q-Day as the moment when quantum computers become capable of breaking the elliptic-curve cryptography that secures private keys used by Bitcoin," said Conor Deegan, co-founder and VP of Engineering at Project Eleven in a release.
Project Eleven also announced it is launching Yellowpages a post-quantum cryptographic registry where users can generate hybrid key pairs, create proofs linking them to their existing BTC addresses, and timestamp those proofs on a verifiable ledger.
Yellowpages works by having users generate a new key pair using post-quantum cryptographic algorithms, such as lattice-based systems, that are resistant to the types of attacks a future quantum computer could launch.
They then create a cryptographic proof linking this quantum-safe key to their existing BTC address. That proof is timestamped and stored in Yellowpages, a public registry hosted off-chain.
It doesn't move funds or alter anything on the Bitcoin blockchain, but creates a verifiable paper trail of wallet ownership that could serve as a fallback if elliptic curve cryptography is ever broken.
"Preparing ahead of Q-Day means ensuring that digital assets remain secure and verifiable in a post-quantum world. With Yellowpages, we're giving users free, audited, and open-source tools to proactively establish quantum-resilient ownership today," Deegan continued.
The approach contrasts with solutions like QRAMP, a Bitcoin Improvement Proposal that mandates a hard-fork migration to quantum-safe addresses.
While effective in theory, QRAMP and similar proposals face a high barrier to adoption because they would require consensus, a tall order in a governance environment known for caution.
