NEO is the chain with seven consensus nodes and a public GitHub issue naming Dilithium, Falcon and Kyber. Most decentralised chains cannot coordinate a crypto upgrade. NEO could coordinate one on a group call. Whether that is trust or fragility depends on who owns the seven nodes.
Summary
NEO is Band 2 (Acknowledged). GitHub issue #4239 is unusual for this batch — names Dilithium, Falcon, Kyber as PQC evaluation candidates, plus SHA3-512/BLAKE2b-512 hash-size upgrade. Research-only — no code. 7-node dBFT is most centralized among major chains, which paradoxically simplifies a coordinated PQC upgrade. NeoQS (quantum-safe) discussed publicly for years; never shipped.
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 38 / 100
Notable: P-256 not secp256k1.
ECDSA secp256r1 (P-256) · SHA-256 · RIPEMD-160Research issue names Dilithium/Falcon/Kyber — not yet architected.
2 HNDL Exposure 20 / 100
ECDSA pubkey exposed on first tx. 95-100% exposure.
Same.
dBFT validator keys permanent on-chain.
Standard TLS.
3 Metadata & Privacy Exposure 30 / 100
Transparent.
Neo Global Resources + O3 Labs.
Poly Network + LayerZero.
Baseline.
4 Migration Architecture 30 / 100
Limited AA.
Neo3 upgrade (2021), ongoing Neo 4 research.
Pluggable crypto + GitHub issue #4239 proposes hash-size increase + PQC signatures.
5 Deployment Execution 6 / 100
6 Supply Chain Vendor Readiness 4 / 100
7 Governance & Coordination 35 / 100
Only 7 consensus nodes — most centralized major chain.
Neo3 migration successful.
Erik Zhang + Da Hongfei. Neo Global Resources Feb 2026.
Chinese regulatory adaptation.
The X + Y vs Z inequality
X (data shelf life): 5-10
Y (migration time): 7-12
Z10 (10% CRQC year): 2036 · Z50 (50%): 2041
Verdict: X+Y < Z (safe).
Four-scenario grid
| Scenario | Value preserved | Privacy preserved |
|---|---|---|
| quantum never | 100% | 100% |
| arrives suddenly pre migration | 5% | 15% |
| arrives slowly post migration | 80% | 70% |
| arrives slowly mid migration | 35% | 35% |
Peers in the L1 profile
Order-book view of the 9 chains closest to NEO 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.
Notable: P-256 not secp256k1.
NEO N3 has pluggable crypto modules.
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
NEO scores above Solana in Dim 1 due to naming 3 PQC candidates in public GitHub issue. Still Band 2 — no deployed code. 7-node consensus = strong coordination potential, weak decentralization.
Scorecard metadata
- Profile: L1
- Scored: 2026-04-18 by
layerqu-v2-scoring-agent-4 - v1 reference:
chainscreen-v1-archive - QRI raw: 17 · after caps: 14
- Confidence interval: ±15
- PQC washing ratio: 1x
- Burn-vs-rescue: undeclared
Caps triggered
- Mosca (5a<20%)
- Sutor (5d=1 but research-only, Migration Stage max 2)
- Preskill (several <3 artifacts → ×0.5)
- Casado
- Hybrid gate FAIL → QRI cap 60