• Justin Drake Warns of AI Risk to Classical Cryptography

• Department of War Announces Additional $350 Million in Quantum Computing Initiatives

• Project Eleven Shares PQ Custody Infrastructure Product

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LEAD

Justin Drake “Bunker Mode” Warning

10/7/2026 | Justin Drake tweet

| Vitalik response

| Head of Cryptography at Coinbase response

Justin Drake, Ethereum researcher, shared a tweet calling for the blockchain industry to set in motion a “controlled mass migration of assets to fresh addresses” under what he describes as “bunker mode.” Drake’s primary reasoning is his belief in the potential of AI to challenge the security of ECDSA prior to the existence of a quantum computer, with a “worst case in months, not years.”

Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum co-founder, replied, countering that he doesn’t recommend “anyone scramble to move their funds to new wallets today” but that “we should take risks to cryptography from AI-accelerated math seriously, and minimize our exposure to not just quantum-vulnerable cryptography, but also potentially AI-vulnerable cryptography.” Vitalik goes on to note that he views the AI risk as also present in PQ cryptography, including “ML-DSA / FHE / lattices,” with hash-based cryptography being preferred for Ethereum’s PQ roadmap.

Yehuda Lindell, Head of Cryptography at Coinbase, replied as well, stating that to his “understanding there is no evidence whatsoever pointing to a break of decades-old hardness assumptions like elliptic curve cryptography.”

NETWORK UPDATES

Stacks Shares Roadmap Touching on Plans for Post-Quantum Security

10/7/2026 | https://www.stacks.co/blog/what-are-the-satoshi-upgrades-muneeb-alis-three-frontier-plan-for-stacks-through-2030

Stacks shared a roadmap outline naming post-quantum security as one of three priorities for Stacks by 2030, stating that Stacks will move to PQ cryptography and that Stacks can adopt PQ signature schemes independent of Bitcoin’s upgrade schedule.

StarkWare Discusses Starknet Becoming an Independent L1, Citing Quantum and AI Risk to Classical Cryptography

10/7/2026 |

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StarkWare CEO Eli Ben-Sasson opened a discussion on Twitter on the subject of Starknet transitioning from an Ethereum L2 to a standalone layer 1, citing that Starknet’s current dependencies on Ethereum may pose risk in the face of a cryptographically relevant quantum computer. The Starknet Twitter account further tweeted that “we are actively considering becoming an L1” to become a “fully quantum-resistant network.”

Ethereum Foundation Hosts 2nd Annual PQ Research Retreat

10/9/2026 |

The Ethereum Foundation hosted its second post-quantum research retreat in Cambridge, UK, running from Oct 9 to Oct 12.

Ethereum Researchers Outline Path for PQ Proofs on Ethereum

10/8/2026 | https://ethresear.ch/t/exposing-an-isa-for-post-quantum-proofs-on-ethereum/26136 |

Ethereum researchers have shared an Ethereum Research post outlining paths for supporting post-quantum proofs on Ethereum, contingent on EIP-8288, which would allow proofs to be verified outside the EVM. This requires a standardized Instruction Set Architecture (ISA), with the post outlining the options for the ISA as the EVM, RISC-V, or a specifically designed Ethereum ISA. The post does not make any specific recommendation on which option should be pursued.

Zakura Targets PQ Signature Opcodes in Zcash by Jan 2027

10/8/2026 | https://zakura.com/engineering/transparent-pir-rotating-addresses/

Zakura, a full node implementation for Zcash, shared that its team “plans for post-quantum signature opcodes to land in Zcash in January.”

INFRASTRUCTURE & VENDORS

Project Eleven Launches PQ Custody Infrastructure, Strongpoint, with Zcash Foundation as Initial Dev Partner, Plans with Quantus

10/7/2026 | https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/project-eleven-launches-strongpoint-for-post-quantum-custody-with-zcash-foundation-as-initial-development-partner-302900327.html | https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/project-eleven-and-quantus-plan-strongpoint-integration-with-quantus-joining-as-a-development-partner-302901664.html

Project Eleven introduced Strongpoint, a custody platform “built for navigating the transition to post-quantum cryptography.” The Zcash Foundation is noted as an initial development partner. Additionally, Project Eleven and Quantus announced plans to “integrate the Quantus Network with Strongpoint.”

BTQ Technologies Strategic Partnership with MoonPay Korea, Security Partnership with “Focus on Post-Quantum Cryptography”

10/7/2026 | https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/btq-technologies-named-security-partner-for-moonpay-koreas-stablecoin-infrastructure-302903357.html

BTQ Technologies Corp shared a press release stating it has been named security partner for MoonPay Korea’s stablecoin infrastructure, “with a focus on post-quantum cryptography.” The release notes both a quantum-transition roadmap and a proof of concept of BTQ’s Quantum Secure Stablecoin network with Korean banking institutions as two items in the partnership scope.

QUANTUM HARDWARE & ESTIMATES

IonQ Demonstrates Quantum Memory-Enhanced Interconnect for Distributed Quantum Applications

10/9/2026 | https://www.ionq.com/news/ionq-demonstrates-world-first-quantum-memory-enhanced-interconnect-for-distributed-quantum-applications

IonQ announced that the company had achieved entanglement rates “above 1,000 per second between a trapped ion qubit and a solid-state memory, through a photonic interconnect.” The announcement from IonQ states that the rates are “more than four times faster than the previous record for trapped ions.”

POLICY & REGULATION

Europol Releases Report on Quantum Risk to Cryptocurrency Wallets

10/7/2026 | https://www.europol.europa.eu/media-press/newsroom/news/europol-urges-early-action-to-protect-cryptocurrencies-and-sensitive-data-quantum-threats

Europol released a report by its European Cybercrime Centre evaluating the potential impacts of quantum computing on cryptocurrencies. The report states that it sees the primary risk as lying in the “vulnerability of cryptocurrency wallets” and advises proactive adaptation by blockchain projects.

Department of War Announces $350 Million in Quantum Computing Initiatives

10/8/2026 | https://www.war.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/4622109/department-of-war-announces-350-million-in-quantum-computing-initiatives/ | https://www.war.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/4622113/department-of-wars-office-of-strategic-capital-signs-150-million-conditional-lo/

The Office of the Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering announced new “initiatives and programmatic updates totaling approximately $350 million to strengthen U.S. leadership in quantum computing capabilities that support national security.” The package includes approximately $200 million in new DARPA funding to advance four quantum computing providers to Stage C of its Quantum Benchmarking Initiative, and a $150 million conditional loan commitment from the Office of Strategic Capital to PsiQuantum.

• Monad Publishes PQ Roadmap

• Project Eleven Acquires Riva Labs

• Cloudflare Announces PQ Public Certificate Authority

LEAD

Monad Publishes Post-Quantum Roadmap

9/28/2026 | https://monad.xyz/blog/post-quantum-roadmap

Monad published its post-quantum roadmap, sharing the upgrade order associated with its post-quantum resistance plan: 1. wallets, 2. consensus, 3. staking, 4. EVM, 5. proof infrastructure, and 6. encrypted mempool. Monad targets wallets first to “protect user funds.” Work has already started on both the PQ wallet and PQ consensus solutions.

NETWORK UPDATES

StarkWare Launches Quantum Readiness Dashboard

9/29/2026 | https://quantum.starkware.co/networks |

StarkWare launched a self-assessed dashboard rating the post-quantum “capabilities evidenced” across 10 major networks, including its own, which it rates as the only network with an 8/8 score.

Ethereum Foundation Hosts sig.golf Challenge

9/30/2026 | https://www.yukon.org/sig.golf |

The Ethereum Foundation announced the launch of an “autoresearch” challenge, built with Eigen Labs and Yukon Research, to design stateless hash-based signatures for post-quantum Ethereum.

CRYPTOGRAPHY & STANDARDS

Localhost Research Publishes PRAWNS Scheme

9/27/2026 | https://lclhost.org/blog/prawns/

Localhost Research, in collaboration with Benedikt Bünz and Dan Boneh, published PRAWNS, a threshold hash-based signature scheme from threshold PRFs. These threshold signatures would be compatible with SHRINCS, the leading PQ signature option for Bitcoin.

Project Eleven Introduces CUTS Signature Scheme

9/28/2026 | https://www.projecteleven.com/blog/introducing-cuts-a-new-few-time-hash-based-signature-scheme

Project Eleven shared details about a new few-time hash-based signature scheme it has developed called CUTS. The target of the scheme is to offer a relatively small PQ signature scheme that allows for accidental key reuse. Accidental key reuse is not currently safe in the stateful path of SHRINCS.

NIST FN-DSA (FIPS 206) Team Posts Updated Plan

9/28/2026 | https://groups.google.com/a/list.nist.gov/g/pqc-forum/c/7z-y5qp-W2Y/m/a11CmUsuBQAJ

The NIST FN-DSA (FIPS 206) Falcon team has shared a proposal for a plan to move FN-DSA forward to a draft and final version of FIPS 206. The plan would specify a single version of the signing procedure for FN-DSA, specify the use of fixed-point arithmetic in both key generation and signing, and give NIST the option to allow compatible but not mathematically equivalent implementations of FN-DSA signing procedures in future Special Publications.

INFRASTRUCTURE & VENDORS

Cloudflare Announces Intent to Become a Public Certificate Authority Supporting PQ

9/29/2026 | https://www.cloudflare.com/press/press-releases/2026/cloudflare-announces-public-certificate-authority-for-the-post-quantum-web/

Cloudflare announced that it intends to become a public certificate authority that will support existing encryption as well as “next generation” post-quantum Merkle Tree Certificates (MTCs). Cloudflare will also acquire an existing root certificate, which will allow support for these certificates on legacy hardware. Cloudflare will offer standard MTC issuance at no cost and is targeting inclusion in Chrome’s quantum-resistant root store in 2027.

DEALS & COMPANIES

Project Eleven Acquires Riva Labs

9/29/2026 | https://www.projecteleven.com/blog/project-eleven-acquires-riva-labs-to-expand-post-quantum-research-and-engineering |

Project Eleven, a dedicated post-quantum security company in the digital asset space, announced the acquisition of Riva Labs, a cryptography and protocol engineering team working on post-quantum infrastructure for digital assets. Riva Labs has worked on hash-based signatures, PQ MPC, and consumer PQ wallet experiences. Project Eleven shared that the Riva team and tech will become part of Project Eleven’s research and product efforts.

POLICY & REGULATION

NATO Releases Quantum Technology Roadmap

9/29/2026 | https://www.nato.int/en/news-and-events/articles/news/2026/09/29/nato-releases-quantum-technology-roadmap

NATO released a public summary of its Quantum Technology Roadmap, which was approved internally by NATO on Jul. 30, 2026. The roadmap does not target any specific post-quantum cryptography migration deadlines.

LISTEN / READ

Zero Knowledge Podcast on Quantum Risk

9/30/2026 |

JP Aumasson, security engineer at Cloudflare and BLAKE3 co-designer, joined the ZK Podcast to talk about quaantum and AI risks to cryptography.