Coinbase has begun a broad post-quantum cryptography push, outlining three lines of work it says are meant to prepare the company for threats tied to quantum computing.
In a July 23 post titled "How Coinbase is preparing for post-quantum cryptography," Chief Information Security Officer Jeff Lunglhofer said the company has started building PQ-CoreKMS, a post-quantum version of its in-house key management system, CoreKMS.
PQ-CoreKMS targeted within one year
According to Lunglhofer, Coinbase plans to deliver PQ-CoreKMS within one year. The system is intended to combine secure enclaves, secret sharing and threshold cryptography in an automated signing pipeline.
He said the design will support any post-quantum signature algorithm, allowing Coinbase to offer quantum-safe custody once blockchains begin adopting post-quantum schemes.
Over the following two to three years, the company also plans to develop full MPC capabilities around approaches including lattice-based cryptography.
At the same time, Coinbase is conducting a full inventory of its cryptographic infrastructure. The company is ranking systems by criticality, exposure and migration complexity, and defining quantum-computing milestone points that would trigger real migration work.
Base is part of that plan as well. Coinbase said the network will inherit protection from Ethereum layer 1’s post-quantum roadmap, while also getting a separate plan for Base-specific areas.
Bitcoin developer workshop with Stanford set for August
Coinbase also said it will hold its first Bitcoin developer workshop with Stanford University in August. The meeting is expected to bring together core developers, cryptographers and researchers to discuss post-quantum migration options.
The stated goal is to make an honest assessment of the current state of play, the available options and the path forward. Coinbase said it wants to make the discussion recurring.
Funding support and engineering work for Bitcoin proposals
Lunglhofer said Coinbase, as a founding member of the Bitcoin Security Alliance, will donate to a fund that supports Bitcoin developers working on quantum safety. The company will also contribute engineering resources to proposals including BIP-360 and to the broader path for Bitcoin’s post-quantum migration.
"No single company can solve this problem alone," Lunglhofer wrote. "The only path is for researchers, developers, protocol stakeholders and companies to move in the same direction — the quantum future is coming, and the time to prepare is now."
The Bitcoin Security Alliance was also launched on Wednesday. It has already received funding commitments totaling $15 million over three years from nine organizations, including BlackRock, Fidelity, Block, Blockstream and Strategy.