QuantumLock Specification
Unbreakable, Quantum-Ready, Forever.
Vision
QuantumLock is an open-source protocol specification designed to make Bitcoin more resilient against the development of quantum computing and other emerging threats to digital asset security.
QuantumLock provides a modular architecture for quantum-resistant cryptography, secure custody, privacy, scalability, recovery, governance, monitoring, interoperability, developer tooling, and migration.
The specification is designed so that quantum resistance can evolve as cryptographic research advances without requiring the entire protocol architecture to be replaced.
QuantumLock distinguishes between currently deployed cryptographic systems, transitional hybrid systems, and future post-quantum systems. Security claims must be based on documented cryptographic assumptions and must not imply that any system is literally unbreakable.
Design Principles
Quantum Resistance
The protocol must prioritize cryptographic mechanisms designed to resist known classical and quantum attack models.
Cryptographic Agility
Cryptographic algorithms, signature schemes, key formats, and security parameters must be replaceable without requiring fundamental redesign of the system.
Hybrid Security
The protocol should support transitional security models combining established Bitcoin cryptography with post-quantum cryptography.
Modular Design
Required functionality must be separated into independent core modules. Optional capabilities should be implemented as plugins.
Backward Compatibility
The system should support controlled interaction with legacy Bitcoin infrastructure while providing clear mechanisms for migration toward quantum-resistant security.
Open Source
The specification should support open-source implementations, independent auditing, community development, and transparent security review.
User Control
Users should retain control over keys, migration decisions, recovery mechanisms, and security preferences wherever technically possible.
Human Oversight
Security-critical actions should provide mechanisms for human review, explicit authorization, and emergency intervention.
Vendor Independence
The protocol should use replaceable components and open interfaces rather than requiring dependence on a particular provider, service, wallet, exchange, infrastructure operator, or technology vendor.
Future Adaptability
The protocol must be capable of incorporating improved post-quantum algorithms, new Bitcoin capabilities, emerging attack models, and new security research.
Core Modules
Quantum Cryptography Module
The Quantum Cryptography Module provides the primary cryptographic foundation for quantum-resistant operation.
Features include:
- Post-quantum digital signatures
- Lattice-based signature support
- Hash-based signature support
- Additional post-quantum algorithm families through cryptographic agility
- Hybrid signature schemes
- Dual-signature transactions
- Quantum-resistant key generation
- Quantum-resistant key derivation
- Quantum-resistant address support
- Cryptographic algorithm identification
- Cryptographic parameter identification
- Algorithm versioning
- Security-level selection
- Algorithm migration
- Algorithm deprecation
- Cryptographic capability negotiation
- Cryptographic policy enforcement
- Cryptographic validation
- Cryptographic test vectors
- Algorithm implementation verification
- Quantum threat classification
The module must allow cryptographic mechanisms to be replaced without requiring the replacement of unrelated protocol components.
Key Management Module
The Key Management Module manages the creation, storage, rotation, authorization, and retirement of cryptographic keys.
Features include:
- Quantum-resistant key generation
- Key hierarchy management
- Key derivation
- Key rotation
- Automatic key rotation
- Scheduled key rotation
- Emergency key rotation
- Key expiration
- Key revocation
- Key replacement
- Key versioning
- Key usage policies
- Key authorization
- Key recovery
- Key backup
- Key destruction
- Key migration
- Legacy key tracking
- Quantum exposure assessment
- Key security status
The module must support secure separation between active, backup, recovery, and emergency keys.
Quantum-Resistant Address Module
The Quantum-Resistant Address Module defines address mechanisms capable of identifying quantum-resistant accounts and receiving quantum-resistant transactions.
Features include:
- Quantum-resistant address formats
- Versioned address formats
- Address type identification
- Cryptographic capability identification
- Address security classification
- Legacy address recognition
- Address migration
- Address rotation
- Address expiration
- Address recovery
- Stealth address support
- Quantum-resistant stealth addresses
- Address validation
- Address compatibility detection
Address formats must provide sufficient information for wallets and transaction systems to determine which cryptographic mechanisms are required.
Transaction Security Module
The Transaction Security Module provides transaction-level protection against quantum and classical attacks.
Features include:
- Quantum-resistant transaction signatures
- Hybrid transaction signatures
- Signature validation
- Signature versioning
- Replay attack protection
- Transaction authorization
- Transaction policy validation
- Transaction integrity verification
- Transaction expiration
- Transaction replacement controls
- Emergency transaction controls
- Transaction security classification
- Transaction cryptographic capability negotiation
- Adaptive signature strength
- Transaction security warnings
The module should prevent transactions from silently falling back to weaker cryptographic protections when stronger protections are required.
Signature Management Module
The Signature Management Module manages signature creation, validation, storage, optimization, and migration.
Features include:
- Multiple signature algorithms
- Hybrid signatures
- Dual signatures
- Threshold signatures
- Signature aggregation where supported
- Signature compression where supported
- Signature versioning
- Signature validation
- Signature policy enforcement
- Signature security classification
- Signature migration
- Signature rotation
- Signature size optimization
- Signature compatibility analysis
- Signature failure detection
Signature optimization must not weaken the security properties required by the active security policy.
Wallet Security Module
The Wallet Security Module provides secure wallet functionality for quantum-resistant assets.
Features include:
- Quantum-resistant wallet creation
- Quantum-resistant wallet addresses
- Legacy wallet detection
- Wallet migration
- Key rotation
- Security status monitoring
- Multi-signature wallets
- Threshold wallets
- Hardware wallet integration
- Cold wallet support
- Air-gapped signing
- Offline signing
- Transaction review
- Transaction authorization
- Emergency recovery
- Wallet backup
- Wallet restoration
- Wallet security policies
- Security alerts
The module should allow users to gradually migrate assets from legacy cryptographic protection to quantum-resistant protection.
Multisignature and Threshold Module
The Multisignature and Threshold Module provides distributed authorization for transactions and key operations.
Features include:
- Multi-signature wallets
- Threshold signatures
- Distributed authorization
- Multiple signing parties
- Role-based signing policies
- Signing quorum requirements
- Key separation
- Emergency signers
- Recovery signers
- Time-delayed authorization
- Signer replacement
- Signer rotation
- Signer revocation
- Quantum-resistant threshold authorization
The module should support configurations in which no single compromised key is sufficient to authorize protected operations.
Recovery Module
The Recovery Module provides mechanisms for recovering access to assets and accounts without relying on a single recovery secret.
Features include:
- Post-quantum recovery protocols
- Quantum-hardened seed phrases
- Recovery keys
- Distributed recovery
- Social recovery
- Threshold recovery
- Offline recovery
- Air-gapped recovery
- Recovery authorization
- Recovery time delays
- Emergency recovery
- Recovery testing
- Recovery verification
- Recovery key rotation
- Recovery key revocation
- Recovery policy configuration
Recovery mechanisms must minimize the possibility that recovery infrastructure becomes a new single point of failure.
Custody and Cold Storage Module
The Custody and Cold Storage Module provides secure mechanisms for protecting long-term holdings.
Features include:
- Cold storage
- Air-gapped storage
- Offline key storage
- Hardware-based key protection
- Distributed custody
- Multi-party custody
- Threshold custody
- Offline transaction signing
- Secure transaction transfer
- Signing verification
- Custody policy enforcement
- Emergency custody procedures
- Custody recovery
- Custody migration
- Custody health monitoring
Privacy Module
The Privacy Module provides privacy-preserving mechanisms compatible with quantum-resistant security.
Features include:
- Confidential transactions
- Stealth addresses
- Quantum-resistant stealth addresses
- Transaction privacy
- Address privacy
- Metadata reduction
- Transaction camouflage
- Decoy transactions
- Privacy-preserving transaction routing
- Privacy policy controls
- Privacy security classification
- Privacy leakage detection
- Optional privacy-enhancing cryptographic mechanisms
Privacy mechanisms must not be presented as providing absolute anonymity.
Quantum-Resistant Ring Signature Module
The Quantum-Resistant Ring Signature Module provides optional transaction authorization mechanisms based on quantum-resistant ring signatures.
Features include:
- Quantum-resistant ring signatures
- Signer ambiguity
- Transaction authorization
- Ring construction
- Ring validation
- Ring size policies
- Privacy policy integration
- Signature security classification
- Cryptographic agility
- Algorithm migration
Zero-Knowledge Privacy Module
The Zero-Knowledge Privacy Module provides optional privacy mechanisms based on zero-knowledge proofs.
Features include:
- Zero-knowledge transaction proofs
- Transaction validity proofs
- Selective disclosure
- Confidential state verification
- Privacy-preserving authorization
- Proof verification
- Proof versioning
- Proof security classification
- Proof migration
- Cryptographic agility
The module must distinguish between proof systems and their underlying security assumptions.
Smart Contract Security Module
The Smart Contract Security Module provides quantum-resistant security mechanisms for programmable transaction logic.
Features include:
- Quantum-resistant contract authorization
- Quantum-resistant time locks
- Contract key rotation
- Contract versioning
- Contract security policies
- Contract upgrade controls
- Contract recovery mechanisms
- Contract emergency controls
- Contract state validation
- Contract signature validation
- Contract security monitoring
- Private smart contract support
Time Lock Module
The Time Lock Module provides programmable time-based transaction and authorization controls.
Features include:
- Quantum-resistant time locks
- Transaction delays
- Recovery delays
- Emergency delays
- Scheduled key expiration
- Scheduled key rotation
- Delayed withdrawals
- Delayed contract operations
- Governance timelocks
- Timelock validation
- Timelock cancellation policies
Payment Channel Module
The Payment Channel Module provides quantum-resistant payment channel functionality.
Features include:
- Quantum-safe payment channels
- Channel authorization
- Channel key rotation
- Channel state validation
- Channel settlement
- Channel dispute handling
- Channel recovery
- Channel expiration
- Channel security monitoring
- Layer 2 compatibility
Layer 2 Compatibility Module
The Layer 2 Compatibility Module enables QuantumLock functionality to operate with Bitcoin Layer 2 systems and payment networks.
Features include:
- Layer 2 compatibility
- Lightning Network compatibility
- Quantum-resistant channel authorization
- Channel migration
- Layer 2 key rotation
- Layer 2 transaction validation
- Security capability negotiation
- Quantum security status reporting
- Layer 2 recovery mechanisms
Scalability Module
The Scalability Module provides mechanisms for reducing the performance and storage impact of quantum-resistant transaction data.
Features include:
- Segregated signature data
- Signature aggregation where supported
- Signature compression where supported
- Transaction data optimization
- Block data optimization
- State optimization
- Transaction batching
- Efficient validation
- Parallel validation
- Resource-aware validation
- Dynamic transaction processing
- Scalable verification
Security requirements must take precedence over optimization when the two conflict.
Sharding and Modular Blockchain Module
The Sharding and Modular Blockchain Module provides optional mechanisms for distributing blockchain processing and storage.
Features include:
- Sharding support
- Dynamic sharding
- Modular blockchain support
- State partitioning
- Transaction routing
- Cross-shard validation
- Cross-shard security
- Shard recovery
- Shard migration
- Shard monitoring
- Quantum-resistant shard authorization
State Management Module
The State Management Module provides mechanisms for securely managing blockchain and wallet state.
Features include:
- Blockchain state snapshots
- State validation
- State synchronization
- State recovery
- State migration
- State versioning
- State integrity verification
- State checkpointing
- Historical state tracking
- Snapshot verification
- Distributed state recovery
Sidechain Module
The Sidechain Module provides quantum-resistant compatibility with sidechain systems.
Features include:
- Quantum-resistant sidechains
- Sidechain authorization
- Sidechain state verification
- Sidechain transaction validation
- Sidechain key rotation
- Sidechain recovery
- Sidechain migration
- Cross-chain security policies
- Sidechain monitoring
Fee Management Module
The Fee Management Module provides adaptable transaction fee mechanisms.
Features include:
- Dynamic fees
- Security-aware fees
- Signature-size-aware fees
- Congestion-aware fees
- Resource-based fees
- Priority fees
- Fee estimation
- Fee policy configuration
- Fee transparency
- Fee optimization
Fee mechanisms must not create incentives that weaken required security protections.
Migration Module
The Migration Module provides controlled migration from legacy Bitcoin cryptography to quantum-resistant cryptography.
Features include:
- Legacy address detection
- Legacy key detection
- Quantum exposure assessment
- Migration planning
- Automatic migration assistance
- User-approved migration
- Batch migration
- Address replacement
- Key replacement
- Asset migration
- Migration verification
- Migration status tracking
- Migration rollback where technically possible
- Migration warnings
- Migration deadlines
- Emergency migration
Migration tools must clearly identify actions that require user authorization.
Interoperability Module
The Interoperability Module provides compatibility between QuantumLock and external blockchain, wallet, payment, custody, and financial systems.
Features include:
- Protocol interoperability
- Wallet interoperability
- Address interoperability
- Transaction interoperability
- Cryptographic capability negotiation
- Cross-chain compatibility
- Layer 2 compatibility
- Bridge compatibility
- Data translation
- Signature translation where technically and cryptographically valid
- Compatibility analysis
- Compatibility scoring
- Interoperability validation
- Legacy system integration
Interoperability mechanisms must not imply that incompatible cryptographic systems have equivalent security.
Governance Module
The Governance Module provides mechanisms for managing protocol evolution and security decisions.
Features include:
- Protocol governance
- Community voting
- Security policy governance
- Cryptographic algorithm selection
- Cryptographic algorithm deprecation
- Security parameter governance
- Feature governance
- Upgrade proposals
- Proposal review
- Proposal voting
- Timelocked governance actions
- Emergency governance
- Governance transparency
- Governance history
- Governance auditability
Governance mechanisms should minimize the ability of a single participant to make unilateral security-critical changes.
Upgrade Module
The Upgrade Module manages controlled protocol evolution.
Features include:
- Versioned protocol rules
- Versioned cryptographic algorithms
- Versioned address formats
- Versioned transaction formats
- Versioned security policies
- Backward compatibility
- Forward compatibility
- Migration procedures
- Upgrade proposals
- Upgrade testing
- Timelocked upgrades
- Emergency security patches
- Algorithm replacement
- Module replacement
- Upgrade rollback where technically possible
Security Policy Module
The Security Policy Module allows users, organizations, and deployments to define security requirements.
Features include:
- Minimum signature security levels
- Required cryptographic algorithms
- Prohibited algorithms
- Key rotation policies
- Address security policies
- Transaction security policies
- Wallet security policies
- Recovery policies
- Privacy policies
- Multisignature policies
- Hardware security policies
- Offline signing policies
- Migration policies
- Emergency policies
- Security escalation rules
Threat Intelligence Module
The Threat Intelligence Module monitors developments that could affect the security assumptions of the protocol.
Features include:
- Quantum threat monitoring
- Cryptographic research monitoring
- Algorithm security monitoring
- Attack model tracking
- Cryptographic vulnerability tracking
- Security advisory tracking
- Threat classification
- Threat severity assessment
- Threat forecasting
- Security recommendation generation
- Algorithm retirement recommendations
- Emergency threat alerts
Threat intelligence should distinguish verified findings from forecasts, estimates, and unresolved research.
AI Threat Detection Module
The AI Threat Detection Module provides optional analytical capabilities for identifying suspicious activity and emerging security risks.
Features include:
- Transaction anomaly detection
- Network anomaly detection
- Wallet anomaly detection
- Cryptographic anomaly detection
- Attack pattern detection
- Threat correlation
- Security event classification
- Risk scoring
- Threat forecasting
- Automated alerts
- Human review escalation
- Model confidence reporting
AI-generated security assessments must not automatically override deterministic protocol security rules.
Monitoring Module
The Monitoring Module provides visibility into network, wallet, transaction, cryptographic, and security conditions.
Features include:
- Real-time network monitoring
- Node health monitoring
- Transaction monitoring
- Wallet security monitoring
- Cryptographic status monitoring
- Algorithm usage monitoring
- Key rotation monitoring
- Migration monitoring
- Threat monitoring
- System health reporting
- Security alerts
- Operational alerts
- Historical metrics
- Security event history
Security Score Module
The Security Score Module provides a user-readable assessment of the security state of addresses, wallets, transactions, and other protected entities.
Features include:
- Address security scores
- Wallet security scores
- Transaction security scores
- Cryptographic security scores
- Quantum exposure scores
- Migration status
- Key age assessment
- Algorithm risk assessment
- Recovery security assessment
- Multisignature security assessment
- Privacy assessment
- Confidence indicators
- Explanation of score factors
Scores must be presented as assessments rather than guarantees of security.
Self-Healing Module
The Self-Healing Module provides controlled mechanisms for responding to detected failures and security degradation.
Features include:
- Automatic key rotation
- Automatic node recovery
- Automatic configuration recovery
- Failed component isolation
- Security policy enforcement
- Recovery state validation
- Redundant operation
- Failover
- Service restoration
- Emergency migration
- Security degradation alerts
Self-healing actions must remain within predefined security and governance policies.
Disaster Recovery Module
The Disaster Recovery Module provides mechanisms for maintaining access and operational continuity during infrastructure failures.
Features include:
- Distributed backups
- Quantum-hardened backups
- Geographic redundancy
- Node redundancy
- Recovery snapshots
- Offline recovery
- Air-gapped recovery
- Distributed key recovery
- Emergency restoration
- Recovery verification
- Disaster recovery testing
- Recovery procedures
- Recovery audit records
Network Resilience Module
The Network Resilience Module protects the system against infrastructure disruption and localized failures.
Features include:
- Geo-redundant nodes
- Distributed nodes
- Federated nodes
- Failover
- Node health monitoring
- Network partition detection
- Recovery coordination
- Peer diversity
- Infrastructure diversity
- Resource-aware operation
- Offline-capable operation where applicable
- Emergency network recovery
Emergency Security Module
The Emergency Security Module provides controlled responses to severe cryptographic, operational, or network threats.
Potential emergency conditions include:
- Discovery of a cryptographic vulnerability
- Quantum threat escalation
- Key compromise
- Algorithm compromise
- Wallet compromise
- Network attack
- Consensus failure
- Infrastructure failure
- Critical software vulnerability
- Abnormal transaction activity
- Severe interoperability failure
Emergency controls may include:
- Emergency key rotation
- Emergency address migration
- Emergency transaction restrictions
- Emergency algorithm replacement
- Emergency software updates
- Emergency governance procedures
- Emergency recovery
- Emergency alerts
Emergency powers must be explicitly defined, limited in scope, auditable, and subject to governance review.
Audit and Transparency Module
The Audit and Transparency Module provides independent visibility into protocol operation.
Features include:
- Cryptographic configuration reporting
- Algorithm usage reporting
- Security policy reporting
- Protocol version reporting
- Upgrade history
- Migration history
- Governance history
- Security event history
- Threat assessment history
- Transaction security information
- Wallet security information
- Audit records
- Verification records
- Public security documentation
Developer SDK Module
The Developer SDK Module provides reusable interfaces for building QuantumLock-compatible applications.
Features include:
- Post-quantum cryptographic interfaces
- Wallet interfaces
- Address generation
- Transaction creation
- Transaction verification
- Key management
- Signature management
- Multisignature support
- Recovery support
- Migration support
- Security policy interfaces
- Monitoring interfaces
- Testing interfaces
- Compatibility interfaces
- Documentation interfaces
SDK interfaces should remain modular so that cryptographic implementations can evolve without requiring application redesign.
Testing and Validation Module
The Testing and Validation Module provides systematic testing of QuantumLock implementations and protocol behavior.
Features include:
- Unit testing
- Integration testing
- Cryptographic testing
- Signature testing
- Transaction testing
- Wallet testing
- Migration testing
- Recovery testing
- Compatibility testing
- Interoperability testing
- Performance testing
- Security testing
- Failure testing
- Regression testing
- Fuzz testing
- Adversarial testing
- Quantum threat simulation
- Test vector validation
- Protocol compliance testing
Quantum Threat Simulation Module
The Quantum Threat Simulation Module provides controlled environments for evaluating protocol behavior under simulated quantum attack conditions.
Features include:
- Quantum attack modeling
- Cryptographic attack simulation
- Signature compromise simulation
- Key exposure simulation
- Migration simulation
- Algorithm failure simulation
- Security policy testing
- Recovery testing
- Emergency response testing
- Network resilience testing
- Threat scenario generation
- Security response measurement
Simulation results must clearly distinguish between modeled scenarios and real-world quantum capabilities.
Documentation Module
The Documentation Module maintains human-readable and machine-readable documentation for the protocol.
Features include:
- Protocol documentation
- Cryptographic documentation
- Security documentation
- Wallet documentation
- Migration documentation
- Recovery documentation
- Governance documentation
- Developer documentation
- API documentation
- Implementation guidance
- Security warnings
- Compatibility documentation
- Upgrade documentation
- Audit documentation
Optional Plugin Modules
Optional plugins extend QuantumLock without making additional functionality mandatory for every deployment.
Plugins must communicate with the core system through defined interfaces and must not bypass core security policies.
Advanced Quantum Algorithms Plugin
Provides support for additional post-quantum algorithms as security research and standards evolve.
Capabilities include:
- Additional signature families
- Additional key encapsulation mechanisms where applicable
- Experimental algorithm evaluation
- Algorithm benchmarking
- Security comparison
- Algorithm migration
- Algorithm deprecation
Hardware Security Plugin
Provides integration with hardware-based security systems.
Capabilities include:
- Hardware wallets
- Secure key storage
- Hardware-backed signing
- Secure elements
- Hardware security modules
- Air-gapped hardware
- Hardware attestation
- Hardware security monitoring
Lightning Plugin
Provides specialized QuantumLock functionality for Lightning Network deployments.
Capabilities include:
- Quantum-resistant channel keys
- Channel migration
- Channel security monitoring
- Quantum-safe channel recovery
- Channel policy management
- Payment security assessment
Cross-Chain Plugin
Provides interoperability with other blockchain networks.
Capabilities include:
- Cross-chain transactions
- Cross-chain address mapping
- Cross-chain cryptographic capability detection
- Cross-chain transaction verification
- Cross-chain security assessment
- Bridge security monitoring
- Cross-chain migration
Exchange Integration Plugin
Provides optional interfaces for exchanges and trading platforms.
Capabilities include:
- Quantum-resistant deposit addresses
- Quantum-resistant withdrawal addresses
- Migration monitoring
- Exchange wallet security assessment
- Transaction verification
- Security policy enforcement
Custody Provider Plugin
Provides standardized interfaces for external custody systems.
Capabilities include:
- Custody account integration
- Key security reporting
- Multi-party custody
- Threshold custody
- Custody migration
- Custody recovery
- Custody security monitoring
Enterprise Security Plugin
Provides additional controls for institutional deployments.
Capabilities include:
- Enterprise security policies
- Role-based authorization
- Multi-party approvals
- Institutional key management
- Compliance reporting
- Security auditing
- Administrative controls
- Policy enforcement
Privacy Enhancement Plugin
Provides additional privacy-preserving capabilities.
Capabilities include:
- Advanced stealth mechanisms
- Advanced confidential transactions
- Privacy-preserving proofs
- Transaction privacy analysis
- Metadata protection
- Privacy risk assessment
DeFi Compatibility Plugin
Provides compatibility with decentralized finance systems where supported.
Capabilities include:
- Quantum-resistant wallet integration
- Quantum-resistant contract authorization
- Protocol compatibility analysis
- Smart contract security assessment
- DeFi migration tools
- Transaction security monitoring
Bitcoin Compatibility Plugin
Provides specialized compatibility with existing Bitcoin infrastructure.
Capabilities include:
- Legacy Bitcoin address analysis
- Legacy transaction analysis
- Bitcoin wallet compatibility
- Bitcoin transaction verification
- Bitcoin migration assistance
- Bitcoin network monitoring
- Bitcoin security assessment
Provides advanced tools for developers building QuantumLock-compatible systems.
Capabilities include:
- SDK extensions
- Cryptographic testing tools
- Transaction construction tools
- Wallet development tools
- Migration testing
- Security testing
- Protocol validation
- Debugging tools
- Simulation tools
- Documentation generation
Security Research Plugin
Provides tools for researchers evaluating QuantumLock security.
Capabilities include:
- Cryptographic benchmarking
- Attack simulation
- Security analysis
- Algorithm comparison
- Threat modeling
- Vulnerability reporting
- Reproducible security experiments
- Research data collection
Governance Analytics Plugin
Provides advanced analysis of protocol governance.
Capabilities include:
- Proposal analysis
- Voting analysis
- Governance participation
- Security impact analysis
- Upgrade risk analysis
- Governance history
- Decision transparency
Notification Plugin
Provides optional notification services.
Capabilities include:
- Security alerts
- Migration alerts
- Key rotation alerts
- Transaction alerts
- Wallet alerts
- Governance alerts
- Network alerts
- Emergency alerts
Backup and Recovery Services Plugin
Provides optional integrations for external backup and recovery systems.
Capabilities include:
- Distributed backups
- Encrypted backups
- Recovery verification
- Recovery testing
- Backup health monitoring
- Geographic redundancy
- Offline backup support
Inter-Module Requirements
Core modules must communicate through stable, documented interfaces.
Modules should be independently replaceable where practical.
Security-critical modules must expose their security requirements and assumptions.
Modules must identify:
- Inputs
- Outputs
- Dependencies
- Security requirements
- Cryptographic requirements
- Version requirements
- Failure conditions
- Recovery procedures
- Audit requirements
No module should silently weaken the security requirements of another module.
Cryptographic Agility Requirements
QuantumLock must support the replacement of cryptographic algorithms as security research develops.
The protocol should support:
- Algorithm identifiers
- Algorithm versions
- Security levels
- Algorithm status
- Approved algorithms
- Deprecated algorithms
- Emergency-deprecated algorithms
- Algorithm migration
- Algorithm negotiation
- Algorithm compatibility
- Algorithm testing
- Algorithm benchmarking
- Algorithm security assessment
Cryptographic agility must not permit unauthorized downgrades to weaker security.
Legacy Bitcoin Compatibility
QuantumLock should provide controlled compatibility with legacy Bitcoin systems while clearly identifying their cryptographic security limitations.
The system should support:
- Legacy address recognition
- Legacy transaction recognition
- Legacy key identification
- Quantum exposure assessment
- Migration recommendations
- User-approved migration
- Automated migration assistance
- Legacy security warnings
- Mixed legacy and quantum-resistant environments
Legacy compatibility must not be interpreted as equivalent to quantum-resistant security.
Security Classification
QuantumLock implementations should classify cryptographic and operational states according to documented security levels.
Security classifications may consider:
- Cryptographic algorithm
- Algorithm maturity
- Key age
- Key exposure
- Address type
- Signature type
- Recovery configuration
- Multisignature configuration
- Privacy configuration
- Migration status
- Software version
- Threat environment
Security classifications should be explainable and auditable.
Privacy Requirements
QuantumLock privacy mechanisms should minimize unnecessary disclosure of:
- Transaction information
- Address relationships
- Key relationships
- User metadata
- Wallet metadata
- Network metadata
- Recovery information
Privacy mechanisms must not compromise transaction validity, asset ownership controls, or required security guarantees.
Specification Branding License (SBL)
Standard
- Fully AGPL-3.0+ compliant system
- Copyleft enforced for network deployments
- Required attribution:
Optional
- Specification Branding License (SBL)
License & Notice Requirements
QuantumLock is released under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 or later (AGPL-3.0+).
By contributing to this project, you agree that your contributions will also be released under this license.
Please note the following:
- All contributions must comply with the AGPL-3.0+ terms.
- Under Section 7 of the license, all redistributions, forks, and derivative works must preserve attribution to:
Roxanne Ardary and roxanneardary.com.
- QuantumLock specifications are free to use with attribution. A Specification Branding License can be negotiated upon request.
- The project's notice.md file tracks attribution requirements and contributor acknowledgments.
Any update that adds new contributors or modifies attribution should also update notice.md.
- When submitting a pull request, ensure that any new files maintain the attribution headers where applicable.
- Network-deployed versions of this software must also remain fully AGPL-3.0+ compliant, including exposure of source code modifications when applicable under the license.
For full legal details, please refer to the AGPL-3.0+ license and the project's notice.md file.
Open Arsenal Hub
https://gitlab.com/Roxanne_Ardary/open-arsenal-specs
roxanne_ardary/quantumlock
