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Tidecoin Post-Quantum Technology

Full-stack post-quantum security at every cryptographic layer — signatures, P2P transport, script hashing, wallet derivation, proof-of-work. All NIST standards. Built on Bitcoin Core v30, 5+ years live, zero security incidents.

// full-stack pq

What does 'full-stack post-quantum' mean?

Unlike projects that add quantum resistance at only one layer, Tidecoin secures every cryptographic surface.

LayerBitcoinTidecoinNIST StandardStatus
Transaction signingECDSA (secp256k1)FALCON-512Draft FIPS 206Live
Additional signatures—Falcon-1024, ML-DSA-44/65/87FIPS 204, Draft FIPS 206Built
P2P transportECDH / X25519ML-KEM-512FIPS 203Live
Witness script hashingSHA-256SHA-512FIPS 180-4Built
HD wallet derivationBIP-32 (ECDSA xpub)PQHD (hardened-only)CustomLive
Proof-of-work (P1)SHA-256dpowerTIDE—Live
Proof-of-work (P2)—Scrypt (Litecoin merged)—Built

"Live" = active on mainnet. "Built" = implemented, tested, activates with AuxPoW consensus upgrade.

// falcon-512

The default signature scheme

FALCON-512 is a lattice-based signature scheme selected by NIST in the Post-Quantum Cryptography competition, being standardized as FN-DSA under Draft FIPS 206. Tidecoin has used FALCON-512 since genesis in December 2020.

  • 666-byte signatures — smallest of any NIST PQC standard
  • Proven security — SIS over NTRU lattices since 1996
  • Constant-time — integer emulation, no FP side-channels
  • Stateless — unlimited signatures per key
Deep dive into FALCON-512
ParameterFALCON-512ECDSA
Public key897 B33 B
Signature666 B71 B
PK + Sig1,563 B104 B
Quantum-safe(Shor's)
Verification~28,000/s~10,000/s
// 5 signature schemes

Multi-scheme cryptographic agility

Tidecoin implements five signature schemes from NIST's PQC process (ML-DSA finalized as FIPS 204; Falcon in Draft FIPS 206), registered in a compile-time scheme registry with unique prefix bytes.

SchemePrefixPKSignatureNIST LevelStandardStatus
Falcon-5120x07897 B666 B1Draft FIPS 206Live
Falcon-10240x081,793 B1,280 B5Draft FIPS 206Built
ML-DSA-440x091,312 B2,420 B2FIPS 204Built
ML-DSA-650x0A1,952 B3,309 B3FIPS 204Built
ML-DSA-870x0B2,592 B4,627 B5FIPS 204Built
// ml-kem-512 transport

Quantum-secure P2P

ML-KEM-512 (NIST FIPS 203) replaces X25519. 800-byte PK, 768-byte ciphertext, 32-byte shared secret. V2 transport enabled by default (-v2transport=1).

// pqhd wallet

Hardened-only derivation

Replaces BIP-32 (broken by quantum via xpub). SHA-512 KDF. Multi-seed, multi-scheme, encrypted. Path: m / 10007' / 6868' / scheme' / account' / change' / index'

PQHD technical details
// script extensions

OP_SHA512 + P2WSH-512

OP_SHA512 (0xb3): 256-bit PQ script hashing vs SHA-256's 128-bit. Witness v1 P2WSH-512 uses 64-byte hash. Addresses: q1... (mainnet), tq1... (testnet). Both gated behind AuxPoW activation.

// auxpow merged mining

Scrypt + Litecoin = 100-1,000x security

Small CPU chain 51%-attack cost: $42-250/hour. Merged with Litecoin: ~$58,000/hour. Scrypt quantum-resistant (~1.2B qubits needed vs ~2.4-10M for SHA-256d). Code live on testnet, activation pending on mainnet.

// technology faq

Technology FAQ

All FAQ

Tidecoin Technology — Full-Stack Post-Quantum Cryptography