TL;DR:
- Project Eleven announced the development of a cryptographic technique based on a wallet’s key derivation path.
- The initiative featured collaboration from Jim Posen, lead maintainer of the Binius open-source zero-knowledge proof system.
- A Coinbase advisory council report estimated in June 2026 that approximately 7 million bitcoins could be vulnerable to quantum attacks.
Project Eleven presented this Thursday a cryptographic technique designed to prove ownership of cryptocurrency wallets against the threat posed by Bitcoin’s quantum future. The security firm seeks to protect users who do not migrate to secure addresses before the so-called “Q-Day.”
The CEO of Project Eleven, Alex Pruden, explained in a post on X that the main challenge lies in proving the identity of the legitimate owner once quantum computers can deduce private keys from public keys. According to estimates published by the firm, this would prevent traditional digital signatures from serving as unique proof of ownership after the arrival of the quantum era.
1/ It's not everyday that my primary cryptographic interests (PQC and ZK) collide. But today is one of those days!
Excited to announce this collaboration between @projecteleven and @jimpo_potamus (lead maintainer of Binius) for post Q-Day wallet recovery using a ZK… https://t.co/L4phu49suZ
— Alex Pruden (@apruden08) July 15, 2026
Under Bitcoin’s current elliptic curve cryptography system, an attacker with advanced quantum capabilities could forge digital signatures to divert funds. According to the specifications of the new protocol, the proposed solution uses the wallet’s key derivation path to verify control of the master key without the need to reveal it to the public. The technical team claims that a quantum computer cannot reconstruct this source key.
A recovery mechanism for Q-Day
The technical implementation was funded to run on Binius, a zero-knowledge proof system designed to accelerate cryptographic hash operations. According to technical documentation distributed by the company, the development is based on the concept of “signature lifting” originally proposed by security researchers Alon Sattath and Robert Wyborski, under the supervision of developer Jim Posen.
The advancement of these technologies coincides with an increase in standardization initiatives within the global cryptocurrency network. During February 2026, network developers pushed the improvement proposal BIP-360 into the formal review process. Subsequently, in March 2026, the company BTQ Technologies launched the first test implementation on its “Bitcoin Quantum” network, allowing developers to evaluate the viability of the proposal.
The risks associated with delays in the technological transition remain under scrutiny by the private sector. The Coinbase quantum advisory council warned in June 2026 that nearly 7 million bitcoins could be exposed if end-users do not make the corresponding migration to secure addresses.
As a government preparedness measure, the United States administration signed executive decrees at the end of June 2026 to accelerate the transition of federal agencies toward post-quantum cryptography. This legal framework establishes mandatory security audits and evaluations that will be progressively implemented throughout the remainder of the year.
