Security Overview
An honest summary of what is post-quantum-secured today and what is not. For live/pending status see Status & Roadmap.
RougeChain L1 — post-quantum-secured
- Accounts, transactions, validator block signatures and staking operations use ML-DSA-65 (FIPS 204). Messaging and mail use ML-KEM-768 (FIPS 203).
- Transactions are signed client-side; private keys do not leave the wallet.
- In the web wallet, setting a password (min 8 characters) is required to finish creating or importing a wallet, and keys are written to browser storage only encrypted (AES-256-GCM). A wallet an older version stored unencrypted must be secured with a password before it can be used again. See Create a Wallet.
- Messages and mail are encrypted to each participant's long-term ML-KEM-768 key. There is no forward secrecy: anyone who later obtains that key can decrypt the stored messages and mail it was used for, both received and sent.
- These algorithms are quantum-resistant under current cryptographic understanding. No system can promise more than that, and implementation bugs remain possible.
Bridges — mixed
| Path | Today |
|---|---|
| RougeChain side of every bridge | ML-DSA-65-signed withdrawals |
XRGE on Base (BridgeVaultV2) | Classical Base-side authorization (Safe multisig + capped relayer key). Hardened R1 architecture. |
qETH / qUSDC on Base (RougeBridge) | Classical Base-side authorization: single operator owner/release key, with a 2-of-3 Safe multisig guardian that can pause the bridge and cancel queued large releases |
| Bitcoin (qBTC) | Separate bridge; Bitcoin custody uses Bitcoin's classical signatures |
So: assets held on RougeChain are protected by post-quantum signatures. The Base-side custody of bridged assets is not post-quantum today.
What V3 will change (not activated)
The V3 XRGE bridge changes the XRGE authorization path on Base to on-chain-verified ML-DSA-65 signatures from an M-of-N authority. It has been built, frozen as an audit candidate and rehearsed, but is not deployed or activated, and it has not yet been externally audited.
- qETH and qUSDC remain outside the V3 post-quantum scope.
- The Bitcoin bridge is separate from the Base bridge architecture and from V3.
Finality
Verified BFT finality (FINALITY_V2) is live since block 150: every block carries a certificate of ML-DSA-65 precommits from more than two thirds of stake for its parent, and nodes reject blocks without one. Stake is still concentrated in few keys, which limits what any BFT guarantee means until the validator set broadens.
Decentralization
Validator stake and bridge operation are currently concentrated in a small operator set. This is a known limitation and part of the roadmap.