Mina has the best cryptography team in this batch and the most Shor-breakable stack to go with it. The whole point of Mina is that a 22KB recursive proof stands in for the chain's history. Break Pasta curves, and that proof stops being a proof.
Summary
Mina has the most sophisticated cryptography stack in this batch (Schnorr over Pasta curves, Pickles recursive SNARKs via Kimchi/PLONK, Poseidon hash, 22KB succinct blockchain), but every primitive is Shor-breakable. The o1Labs research team is the closest to 'PQ-competent' in this sample. A Pasta-curve break would retroactively invalidate the entire recursive SNARK chain proof — catastrophic. No deployed PQC. Band 2 Acknowledged due to research capability signals. PQC-washing risk: succinct ≠ PQ-secure.
What the gates say
- Hybrid: FAIL. No hybrid plan on file.
- Evidence: PASS. Sources reconstructable by third party.
- Primitive naming: PASS. Named primitives at every scored sub-level.
Burn-vs-rescue policy on file
undeclared
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 30 / 100
Unique cryptography stack among L1s — recursive SNARKs maintain 22KB chain state.
Schnorr signatures over Pasta curves (Pallas/Vesta cycle) · Pickles recursive SNARKs (Kimchi / PLONK over Pasta) · Poseidon hash (SNARK-friendly) · Blake2b (tx-level hashing)Despite sophisticated crypto, no PQC family deployed.
No NIST PQC primitives deployed
2 HNDL Exposure 16 / 100
Schnorr addresses over Pasta curves are fully Shor-exposed. All pubkeys visible on first tx.
Mainnet March 2021. 4+ years of cold Schnorr keys.
Recursive SNARKs verify ALL historical state — a Shor break on Pasta curves would retroactively invalidate the entire chain's integrity proof.
Standard TLS. No PQC KEM.
3 Metadata & Privacy Exposure 28 / 100
Succinct blockchain hides state details but tx graph is still visible.
Small validator set (~60 block producers). Succinct design concentrates proof generation on SNARK workers.
Limited bridge activity. Wrapped Mina on Ethereum visible.
Schnorr signature forgery would allow retroactive fake-transaction construction, but chain history is hash-chained in Merkle Mountain Range.
4 Migration Architecture 40 / 100
o1Labs has PhD-level cryptography team. Kimchi/Pickles are modular — algorithm swaps plausible. Research on Halo2, FRI, and other proof systems ongoing.
zkApps + account abstraction at zkApp layer via SnarkyJS. Programmable authentication.
Berkeley → Mainnet → zkApps rollout demonstrated multi-year coordination. Berkeley testnet to prod.
No deployed hybrid PQC but research-level discussion of PQ-SNARK constructions at o1Labs. Protocol naturally amenable to proof system upgrades.
5 Deployment Execution 5 / 100
no public artifact found — Kimchi/Pickles are NOT PQ-secure despite their sophistication
no public artifact found
no public artifact found
Research-level discussion only.
Moderate risk: Mina's succinct-blockchain story is sometimes conflated with quantum resistance. Succinct ≠ PQ-secure — Pasta curves are Shor-breakable.
6 Supply Chain Vendor Readiness 6 / 100
7 Governance & Coordination 35 / 100
~60 block producers, PoS with delegation. Moderately concentrated.
Berkeley hardfork rolled out zkApps successfully. Multi-year coordinated upgrades.
o1Labs (Evan Shapiro) with strong cryptography research team (Izaak Meckler, etc.). Closest to a 'PQ-competent' team in this batch.
Handled protocol-level issues. No PQC-specific precedent.
The X + Y vs Z inequality
X (data shelf life): 7-12 (4+ years mainnet, recursive SNARKs amplify cold-key persistence)
Y (migration time): 8-12 (strong research team advantage)
Z10 (10% CRQC year): 2036 · Z50 (50%): 2041
Verdict: X+Y > Z (danger).
Four-scenario grid
| Scenario | Value preserved | Privacy preserved |
|---|---|---|
| quantum never | 100% | 100% |
| arrives suddenly pre migration | 5% | 15% |
| arrives slowly post migration | 85% | 75% |
| arrives slowly mid migration | 45% | 40% |
Peers in the L1 profile
Order-book view of the 9 chains closest to Mina 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.
Unique cryptography stack among L1s — recursive SNARKs maintain 22KB chain state.
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
Recursive SNARKs create a unique HNDL amplification: a single Pasta-curve break invalidates the proof-based chain state representation, not just individual transactions. This is the highest 'proof-layer' quantum risk in the batch. Mina's research team (o1Labs/Evan Shapiro/Izaak Meckler) is the standout migration-architecture positive.
Scorecard metadata
- Profile: L1
- Scored: 2026-04-18 by
layerqu-v2-scoring-agent-3 - v1 reference:
chainscreen-v1-archive - QRI raw: 22 · after caps: 22
- Confidence interval: ±10
- PQC washing ratio: 1.4x
- Burn-vs-rescue: undeclared
Caps triggered
- Mosca (5a<20% → QRI max 60)
- Sutor (5d count=1 — Migration Stage max 2)
- Casado (3+ vendor tiles pqc=0 → migration_stage max 3)
- Hybrid gate FAIL → QRI cap 60