XRP Ledger plan would let users swap old wallet keys for quantum-safe ones at no extra cost

The XRP Ledger, the blockchain behind the XRP token, has a plan to protect user accounts from future quantum computers, and it would not cost users anything extra in fees.

A design published by the XRP Ledger Foundation would let account owners add a quantum-resistant signing key to their accounts and switch off the original key. The design is part of the Foundation's 2027 protocol roadmap, which was updated on Nov. 4.

The plan in short

• Account owners could add a quantum-resistant signing key and then disable the old one.
• The new key uses ML-DSA-44, a signature method the U.S. standards body NIST approved in 2024 to resist quantum attacks.
• Base transaction fees would stay the same, so network operators absorb the extra storage cost.
• The roadmap sets aside $215,000 to $255,000 for review and auditing, plus 640 hours of development.
• Ripple is targeting a full quantum transition by 2028, with a migration study planned for the first half of 2027.

Why the old keys are at risk

The threat is already visible on the network. Every time an account signs a transaction, it reveals a public key, which the network uses to confirm the owner approved the payment. A powerful enough quantum computer could work backward from that public key to the secret that controls the account.

According to the report, any account that has ever sent a payment, including every exchange wallet, has exposed that key. Under the new design, owners would turn off the old key once the new one is in place, closing the route an attacker could otherwise use.

Larger keys, same fees

The new key is bulkier than what the ledger uses today. The key and signature together take 3,732 bytes, compared with 105 bytes for a regular payment, adding about 3.6 KB to each protected transaction. Counting history and database overhead, the Foundation puts storage at 5,331 bytes per protected payment against a 1,704-byte baseline.

Users would not pay for that. The proposal keeps the base fee where it is. Because XRP Ledger fees are destroyed, the operators who run the network take on the extra storage.

Work that is not finished

Several technical steps remain open. Developers are fixing a mismatch in which the Python prototype and the server and JavaScript versions can generate different keys from one starting seed. They also have not yet published tests showing how the network performs when all of its validators, the computers that agree on the ledger's history, use the new signatures.

The full roadmap covers 24 amendments with a total budget of about $5 million to nearly $6 million.

The timeline ahead

The Foundation's migration study is scheduled for the first half of 2027, with development and auditing to follow. Ripple, the company behind XRP, is targeting a full quantum transition of the ledger by 2028.

Sources

• CoinDesk