One Type of Post-Quantum Cryptography Is Most Popular. Why Is Crypto Trying Out Three?

Quantum computing poses an existential threat to blockchain security by potentially enabling the recovery of private keys from public keys. The industry currently faces a critical need for post-quantum migration, yet lacks a unified strategy. While NEAR Protocol co-founder Illia Polosukhin and Ledger CTO Charles Guillemet are actively implementing lattice-based cryptographic support to enhance security, other major networks like Ethereum and Bitcoin lean toward more conservative, hash-based solutions. This fragmentation complicates the development of universal standards. A particularly contentious issue involves the fate of "Satoshi’s coins"—early Bitcoin assets that remain vulnerable. Potential solutions include freezing these assets or using them to supplement the network's security budget through tail emission. Ultimately, the industry must achieve social consensus on migration paths and cryptographic standards before quantum capabilities reach a threshold that compromises existing trust models.