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Introduction
As we get closer to relaunching the PAW Chain, it’s time to talk about one of the biggest upgrades happening behind the scenes: the update to PAW’s security architecture. This is one of the main reasons why the chain needed to go offline, and once you understand what we are upgrading, you’ll see why this step was not only necessary, but incredibly important for PAW’s long-term success.
We promise to keep this simple and easy to follow!
Why We Needed to Upgrade PAW’s Security
Technology is evolving quickly, especially in the world of computing: quantum computing is becoming more powerful and much faster than expected. And here’s the important part:
Quantum computers will eventually be able to break the old security systems used by almost every major blockchain today. This includes Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and many others. Their wallets and signatures were created years ago, long before anyone imagined quantum risks. As quantum computers grow stronger, those old systems won’t be secure forever.
This doesn’t mean they break today, but it does mean the industry is heading toward a serious long-term problem.
We decided not to wait until the problem arrives. We chose to upgrade PAW now, so the chain returns stronger, safer, and ready for the future.
Why Big Blockchains Can’t Fix This Easily
Most blockchains cannot simply upgrade their security: They already have millions of users, old wallets, lost wallets, and exposed public keys. To become quantum-secure, every single person on those chains would need to manually migrate and that’s impossible.
If even a small percentage of users don’t upgrade, their wallets become targets once quantum computers reach the necessary level. This creates huge risk for the entire network, including the market, liquidity, and stability.
PAW, on the other hand, is relaunching. This gives us a rare opportunity that legacy chains don’t have: we can upgrade the entire chain at once and move everyone into a secure future together.
How PAW Solves the Problem
When PAW comes back online, it will use a modern, quantum-safe signing system approved by global security researchers. You don’t need to understand how it works, but what matters is what it means for you:
- Your wallet will be upgraded.
- Your assets will be safe.
- PAW will be protected for decades into the future.
Migrating is extremely simple. You will create a new wallet, enter your old seed phrase once, and your assets will be automatically transferred into your new secure wallet. After that, the old wallet no longer matters.
This ensures that no lost wallets, no forgotten keys, and no old public keys remain behind to threaten the network in the future.
This single upgrade puts PAW ahead of almost every major chain in the industry.
Technical Overview of the Security Upgrade
During the offline period, PAW’s entire signature and validation layer was rebuilt to replace legacy RSA and ECDSA schemes with Dilithium-V, a lattice-based, post-quantum signature algorithm selected by NIST for long-term cryptographic security. This upgrade changes how accounts, validators, and transactions are authenticated on-chain: instead of using discrete logarithm–based signatures that can be broken by Shor’s Algorithm on future quantum hardware, PAW now uses structured lattice problems (Module-LWE / Module-SIS) which currently have no known quantum attacks. Validator identity keys, block signatures, and transaction signatures all move to Dilithium-V, giving the chain consistent quantum-safe verification across the entire stack. The new system also provides deterministic signatures, faster verification performance, and more reliable failure handling compared to RSA/ECDSA, improving block production and reducing verification overhead for validators. This is a full protocol-level change and ensures that all migrated wallets, contracts, and validator keys on the relaunched PAW Chain use a unified, quantum-resistant cryptographic backbone designed to remain secure for the next century.
Why This Matters for the Community
This is where it becomes exciting: When PAW returns in Q1 2026, it won’t just come back as it was. It will return as a chain that is:
- Safer
- Faster
- Stronger
- Future-proof
- ready for enterprise adoption
Instead of patching things later, we’re launching into the future with everything upgraded from the start. This protects your assets, strengthens the ecosystem, and gives PAW a real technical edge over older blockchains that can’t easily make these changes.
It also gives enterprises confidence, because companies will only build on chains that they trust long-term. A quantum-secure foundation makes PAW an attractive choice for businesses looking ahead.
The Bigger Picture
With this upgrade, PAW is building a chain that can handle the next generation of technology: from automation to enterprise systems and global scaling. We’re solving a problem before it becomes a crisis for the rest of the industry.
When the chain comes back online in Q1 2026, you’ll be stepping into a safer, more powerful, more future-ready ecosystem. Combined with the new branding, the dashboard, and the enterprise architecture, this security upgrade is one of the key pillars that prepares PAW for its next decade of growth.