Celebrating Seven Years of QRL: Ahead of the Quantum Curve
26th June 2025
Seven years ago, on June 26, 2018, Quantum Resistant Ledger (QRL) mainnet was released.
From day one, our mission was both clear and visionary. To create a blockchain secure against future quantum computing threats. While others were skeptical or dismissive, we knew this was necessary. Today, our foresight is being validated as quantum computing advances rapidly.
We’ve engineered QRL from the ground up with the long-term future in mind. This commitment to innovation and security continues today, as we evolve and upgrade our technology to remain at the forefront of quantum-resistant blockchain development.
Years of Leadership & Innovation
“Seven years ago ‘the sleeper must awaken’ was stamped in the genesis block of the QRL, a blockchain conceived to provide a quantum-safe private digital monetary layer for the world to use in perpetuity. Seven years later the decentralized QRL network has run continuously without downtime, serving users quantum-safe security from the genesis block to the present day. In that time the digital asset sector has grown massively to the stage of institutional and nation state adoption - but the largest public blockchains remain completely vulnerable to a quantum singularity event. With the latest and much anticipated hard fork upgrade (Project Zond) around the corner, the original mission and idea of the QRL remains as important as ever. Happy 7th birthday to the QRL!” - Peter Waterland
Our journey hasn’t been about quick wins or chasing trends. It’s been about sustainable innovation, rigorous testing, extensive audits by trusted firms (Red4Sec, x41 D-Sec), and a continued commitment to excellence and security.
This year, 2025, marks a pivotal milestone with the launch of QRL Project Zond Testnet v1. After over a year of intensive beta testing and iterative upgrades, this represents our most stable and comprehensive testnet yet.
QRL Project Zond is the evolution of QRL into a fully-fledged Proof-of-Stake blockchain (from PoW) built with the power of smart contracts. This upgrade not only unlocks the full potential of decentralized finance (DeFi) but also offers a secure haven for tokens and asset holders migrating from vulnerable networks. By leveraging the enhanced security of the QRL Project Zond network, developers can build robust systems that protect user identities, votes, and digital assets (including NFTs), paving the way for a new generation of decentralized applications.
Quantum Computing Breakthroughs (The Future is Now)
This past year has been a breakthrough year for quantum computing globally. It seems like every few weeks, a major milestone has been reached, further reinforcing our initial vision.
Late last year, Google’s Willow quantum computing processor demonstrated groundbreaking capabilities, with Microsoft’s Majorana quantum computing progress highlighting how the path to scalable quantum technology is taking shape a few months later. These are just two notable examples that certainly stand out, but they’re far from the only signs of how quickly quantum technology is advancing.
This year, the news cycle has been punctuated by BlackRock putting the blockchain community on notice when they flagged quantum computing as a critical risk to the cryptographic integrity of Bitcoin (IBIT) and Ethereum (ETHA) assets, warning that advancements in the field could “…result in losses to Shareholders.” Just weeks after BlackRock’s warning, on May 23, Google Quantum AI released a blog post revealing that it had lowered the barrier to breaking widely used RSA-2048 from twenty million to fewer than one million noisy qubits, further underscoring the urgent need for quantum-resistant solutions.
Where are we with that? IBM’s vice president for quantum operations, Jim Gambetta told Live Science, “The science has been solved, [meaning] that scaling up quantum computers is now just an engineering challenge, rather than a scientific hurdle.”
For QRL, these continued advancements validate our strategy and underscore the urgency and importance of our work. We’re not scrambling to catch up… we’re already here!
Charting the Path Forward
The upcoming path promises excitement and challenges as we progress through the final phases of QRL Project Zond. Each update moves us closer to our goal.
The journey to date has been quite the ride. With every challenge/roadblock, we’ve stayed true to our mission - building technology that stays ahead of tomorrow’s threats. And we’ve done it with the incredible support of our community behind us.
Thank You for Your Support
To everyone who has supported, believed, and participated, whether you’re a long standing community member from the early days or just discovering QRL more recently, we thank you. Your involvement, trust, and presence have made QRL what it is today.
If you’re reading this and haven’t joined us yet, the best time is now.
A few of the best ways to do that are to engage with our vibrant community on Discord. To experience the future of crypto, you can create your own quantum-secure wallet at wallet.theqrl.org.
The quantum era is approaching. QRL has awoken. Have you?
26th June 2025
