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Post-Quantum Addresses

POSITRONIC introduces addresses whose spending key is an ML-DSA-44 signature key (FIPS 204), the NIST post-quantum standard. They are built on AuthScript witness v1 outputs and coexist with classical addresses: the same wallet can hold both, and a transaction can mix legacy, post-quantum and asset inputs.

Address derivation​

BIP39mnemonic→ 64-byte seedBIP32master key,child on the PQ pathm/100'/coin'/0'/0/iML-DSA-44keypair seeded bythe 32-byte child keyserialize0x05 ‖ pubkey1312-byte public keyhash160RIPEMD160(SHA256)20 bytesBech32mwitness v1 addressnq1… / tnq1…
StepDetail
SeedStandard BIP39 mnemonic and 64-byte seed
HD pathm/100'/1900'/0'/0/i on mainnet, m/100'/1'/0'/0/i on testnet and regtest. Chain 1 is change. Purpose 100' is reserved for PQ
Key generationThe 32-byte private key of the BIP32 child seeds a deterministic ML-DSA-44 keypair
Public keySerialized as 0x05 followed by the 1312-byte ML-DSA-44 public key
AddressBech32m witness version 1 over hash160(serialized public key). Human-readable part nq on mainnet and tnq on testnet and regtest

Because derivation is deterministic from the mnemonic, a post-quantum account has the same backup story as a classical one (NIP-022). PQ private keys are not WIF-compatible, so they cannot be swept into a legacy wallet.

Spending​

A post-quantum output is an AuthScript commitment with auth type 0x01. Spending reveals the auth type, the ML-DSA-44 signature, the public key and the witness script. The node recomputes the commitment, verifies the signature and then runs the script. See Covenants and opcodes.

SizeBytes
ML-DSA-44 public key1312
ML-DSA-44 signatureabout 2420
Maximum PQ script element3072

Node and wallet support​

  • Consensus: ML-DSA-44 verification in witness v1, larger script elements and stack limits when the covenant flags are active (NIP-018).
  • Policy: mempool and relay accept the larger witness items, and signing RPCs verify with the same flags as consensus (NIP-020, NIP-021).
  • Wallet and RPC: PQ keys in the keystore, address decoders, deterministic derivation and signing RPCs (NIP-019, NIP-022).
  • Mixed transactions: legacy, PQ and asset inputs can be combined in one transaction. Asset transfers to PQ addresses are non-replaceable (NIP-025).
  • Script: OP_CHECKSIGFROMSTACK and OP_CHECKSIGADD accept ML-DSA-44 keys, so oracles and threshold scripts can be post-quantum as well.

Activation​

Post-quantum witness verification is active on testnet and regtest and inactive on mainnet. Wallets already recognize the nq and tnq formats so that they are ready when mainnet activates.

Reference​

The derivation and encoding details for library implementers, including test vectors, are in the node repository under NIP/ (post-quantum address technique, PQ-HD derivation, mixed transactions).