Tezos is the chain where a signature-scheme change is a ballot, not a battle. Nineteen on-chain amendments have shipped with zero contested forks, and four native curves (tz1/tz2/tz3/tz4) show the substrate can accept new schemes. The interesting question is why, with the best governance in the set, ML-DSA has not been proposed yet.
Summary
Tezos has the strongest governance substrate for PQ migration in the evaluated set: 19 successful on-chain protocol amendments, zero contested hard forks. Signature-scheme change is a ballot, not a battle. Four native curves (tz1/tz2/tz3/tz4) show curve-agility precedent. Deployment gap: no amendment shipped with PQ scheme yet. If any L1 can add ML-DSA smoothly, it is Tezos.
What the gates say
- Hybrid: FAIL. no shipped hybrid
- Evidence: PASS. Sources reconstructable by third party.
- Primitive naming: PASS. Named primitives at every scored sub-level.
Burn-vs-rescue policy on file
none-ratified; self-amendment substrate supports rescue path
Seven dimensions
Each dimension scores 0-100 internally; the weighted roll-up produces the QRI on the left. Open a row to read the sub-score detail.
1 Cryptographic Exposure 34 / 100
Four signature curves natively supported (tz1/tz2/tz3/tz4). Among the broadest multi-curve support on any L1.
Ed25519 (tz1) · ECDSA secp256k1 (tz2) · ECDSA P-256 (tz3) · BLS12-381 (tz4) · SHA-256/Blake2b (hashing)Multiple EC families but all classical.
2 HNDL Exposure 28 / 100
Pubkeys typically exposed; reveal operation broadcasts pubkey on first tx.
~7 years old. Dormant holders from 2017 ICO era.
All four curves classical; historical sigs Shor-forgeable.
Standard TLS.
3 Metadata & Privacy Exposure 28 / 100
Transparent ledger; Sapling-on-Tezos was proposed, limited adoption.
Nomadic Labs, Marigold, TzKT, TzStats RPCs.
Limited bridge activity; correlation risk modest.
Sapling usage limited; transparent risk dominates.
4 Migration Architecture 72 / 100
Self-amendment: 19 on-chain protocol upgrades executed without hard forks. Signature-scheme switch is a protocol-amendment vote, not a contentious fork. Structurally the strongest migration substrate in the evaluated L1 set.
No full AA, but reveal/set-delegate operations and 4-curve selection give limited per-account flexibility.
19 successful on-chain amendments, zero contested hard forks. Unique governance asset.
Forum discussions on PQ (2024-2025) flagged by Nomadic Labs; no amendment shipped. Path exists but not exercised.
5 Deployment Execution 14 / 100
Zero PQC on mainnet. Mosca cap triggers.
No PQC in octez mainnet; research-grade discussions only.
Zero PQ bakers.
Milestones: (1) forum discussion of PQ signature support, (2) tz4 BLS12-381 added (not PQ but shows curve-agility).
Low: honest posture.
6 Supply Chain Vendor Readiness 10 / 100
7 Governance & Coordination 78 / 100
~400+ bakers; Coinbase Cloud top staker but distribution reasonable.
19 on-chain amendments executed; cadence predictable. Strongest in set.
Named: Nomadic Labs, Marigold, Trilitech, Functori, TF (Tezos Foundation).
Historical governance dispute with founders resolved via TF. On-chain vote is the coordination artifact.
The X + Y vs Z inequality
X (data shelf life): 4-12
Y (migration time): 2-4 (self-amendment is faster than HF coordination)
Z10 (10% CRQC year): 2036 · Z50 (50%): 2041
Verdict: X+Y < Z (safe).
Four-scenario grid
| Scenario | Value preserved | Privacy preserved |
|---|---|---|
| quantum never | 100% | 100% |
| arrives suddenly pre migration | 18% | 12% |
| arrives slowly post migration | 75% | 40% |
| arrives slowly mid migration | 50% | 25% |
Peers in the L1 profile
Order-book view of the 9 chains closest to Tezos by QRI.
Public artifacts used for this scorecard
Each entry below is a sub-score citation. Clicking the link takes you to the public source. A third party should be able to reconstruct every number on this page from these URLs in 48 hours.
Four signature curves natively supported (tz1/tz2/tz3/tz4). Among the broadest multi-curve support on any L1.
Supply chain snapshot
A chain's supply chain cannot migrate faster than its slowest dependency. Zero PQC roadmaps in any of the four categories is a structural blocker, not a lagging indicator.
Analyst notes on the scoring
Stage 1. Governance is the standout asset (dim 7 = 78). Migration Architecture (72) = second-highest in batch after Starknet. Deployment Execution low (14) holds QRI back. Hybrid gate FAIL because no code; research-grade discussion only.
Scorecard metadata
- Profile: L1
- Scored: 2026-04-17 by
layerqu-v2-scoring-agent-5 - v1 reference:
chainscreen-v1-archive - QRI raw: 33 · after caps: 30
- Confidence interval: ±6
- PQC washing ratio: 0.5x
- Burn-vs-rescue: none-ratified; self-amendment substrate supports rescue path
Caps triggered
- mosca_cap_60 (5a=0)
- sutor_cap_50 (only 2 milestones)