TRON launches a post-quantum cryptography upgrade plan; detailed roadmap still to be announced

TRON founder Justin Sun publicly announced on the X platform this week that the TRON network will launch a post-quantum cryptography (PQC) upgrade plan, aiming to directly integrate anti-quantum cryptographic signature standards into the TRON mainnet. As of April 17, Tron DAO has not released any formal governance proposals or technical documents; the related announcements are currently limited to Justin Sun’s public statements.

Justin Sun’s X post: core content of the upgrade plan

According to Justin Sun’s post on the X platform, the goal of this post-quantum upgrade is “to turn anti-quantum attack capabilities from a topic of ongoing debate into a standard feature.” In his post, Justin Sun said: “While Bitcoin is still debating whether to freeze tokens that pose security risks, and while Ethereum is forming research committees, TRON is under construction.” He also said that the specific technical roadmap will be released later.

Based on standards published by NIST in August 2024, the post-quantum cryptography algorithms that TRON plans to integrate include ML-DSA, FN-DSA, and SLH-DSA. All three standards are designed to defend against quantum computers’ decryption attacks on existing cryptographic algorithms. Mainstream blockchains, including Bitcoin and Ethereum, currently rely on elliptic-curve digital signature algorithms (ECDSA) as their core cryptographic mechanism.

Technical challenge: impact of post-quantum signatures on throughput

Post-quantum cryptography signatures have about 10 times the data size of ECDSA signatures, creating technical constraints on transaction throughput, storage requirements, and network efficiency. The TRON network handles a large number of stablecoin transfer transactions (including USDT transactions), and any change to the cryptographic architecture needs to strike a balance between security and network performance. For users holding assets tied to old keys, migrating on-chain addresses to the new cryptographic standards also involves technical challenges at the operational level.

No official documents yet; TRX fluctuates around $0.33

As of April 15, 2026, Tron DAO has not released any formal governance plan, technical document, or implementation steps regarding this upgrade. Justin Sun has also not disclosed whether TRON has hired external technical experts in the field of post-quantum cryptography. After this announcement, the trading price of TRX tokens fluctuated between $0.32 and $0.34.

Frequently asked questions

When and on which platform did Justin Sun announce the TRON post-quantum upgrade plan?

According to Justin Sun’s public posts, this announcement was published on the X platform in mid-April 2026. As of April 15, 2026, Tron DAO has not released any formal governance proposals or technical documents.

Which NIST post-quantum cryptography algorithms does TRON plan to integrate?

According to the standards finalized by NIST in August 2024, the algorithms TRON plans to integrate include ML-DSA, FN-DSA, and SLH-DSA. All three standards are intended to withstand attacks by quantum computers on existing cryptographic algorithms.

What technical impact does the post-quantum cryptography upgrade have on TRON network performance?

Post-quantum signature data is about 10 times that of ECDSA, affecting transaction throughput, storage requirements, and network efficiency. TRON handles a large number of USDT stablecoin transactions, and changes to the cryptographic architecture need to balance security and performance.