Tron Puts NIST Post-Quantum Signatures on Its Nile Test Network, but the Hard Part Is Still Ahead

Tron deployed GreatVoyage-v4.8.2-PQ1-build1 on its Nile testnet, adding end-to-end support for two NIST-standardized signature schemes, FN-DSA-512 (Falcon) and ML-DSA-44 (Dilithium), across transactions, block production, P2P handshakes, and smart-contract verification via new TVM precompiles. It is the most complete post-quantum deployment yet by a major incumbent chain, and it delivers on the Q2 testnet pledge Justin Sun made in April.

But this is only the first of two steps, and it shows why upgrading a live chain is so hard. Step one is technical: get the new signatures working and switch them on for the real network. Even that is a heavy lift, because post-quantum signatures are far bigger than the ones used today, so wallets, exchanges, and every piece of infrastructure have to be reworked to handle them, and on Tron the block producers still have to vote the change onto the main network. Step two is the harder one, and no upgrade can do it for you: every existing holder has to move their coins from an old, exposed address to a new protected one, by hand. Anyone who does not move, including lost and dormant coins, stays exposed for good. So far Tron has done part of step one, on a test network only. A working test feature is not a protected network. QRL users have had this protection, across the whole system, since 2018.