FAQ

Po8 is a post-quantum secure, privacy-first blockchain that uses lattice-based cryptography (ML-KEM and ML-DSA) instead of traditional elliptic curve cryptography. It's designed to resist attacks from future quantum computers while providing infrastructure-level privacy through integrated Mixnet and dVPN.

The "Harvest Now, Decrypt Later" threat means adversaries are already collecting encrypted data, waiting for quantum computers to break it. For blockchains—which are permanent, immutable records—this is catastrophic. A transaction signed today with ECDSA will be visible to a quantum adversary in the future. Po8 protects against this retroactive threat.

Po8 addresses the "Quadrilemma" with four pillars:

• Quantum Resistance: NIST-standardized lattice cryptography
• NPU-Centric Consensus: Favors consumer hardware over industrial GPUs
• Infrastructure Privacy: Every validator is a Mixnode
• EVM Compatibility: Deploy existing Solidity contracts unchanged

Yes. The Quantum Abstraction Layer (QAL) maintains full EVM compatibility. Existing Solidity contracts deploy without modification. The difference is under the hood—addresses are derived from ML-DSA keys, and signatures are verified via precompiles.

ML-KEM (formerly Kyber) is a key encapsulation mechanism for secure key exchange. ML-DSA (formerly Dilithium) is a digital signature algorithm. Both are NIST-standardized (FIPS 203 and 204) and based on the Module-Learning With Errors problem, which is believed to be hard for quantum computers.

Lattice-based signatures are inherently larger than elliptic curve signatures (64 bytes for Ed25519). Po8 mitigates this with Segregated Witness architecture—signatures are stored separately and not required for state transitions, only for validation.

Po8 includes SLH-DSA (SPHINCS+) as a fallback. This hash-based signature scheme depends only on SHA-3 security, not lattice mathematics. Governance keys use SLH-DSA, allowing emergency hard forks to switch signature schemes if needed.

Po8 combines X25519 (classical) with ML-KEM (post-quantum) for session keys. If either algorithm is compromised, the other maintains security. This "belt and suspenders" approach provides defense-in-depth during the PQC transition.

TensorChain is Po8's Proof of Useful Work algorithm based on high-dimensional matrix multiplication. It's designed to saturate unified memory bandwidth, favoring consumer NPUs (Apple Silicon) over industrial GPUs that suffer from PCIe bottlenecks at batch size 1.

Technically yes, but it's economically inefficient. TensorChain exploits the "Batch-1 Efficiency Gap"—industrial GPUs like the H100 consume ~15 J/token at batch size 1, while Apple M2 Ultra uses ~11 J/token. The algorithm is deliberately tuned to favor unified memory architectures.

Recommended configurations:

• Validator: Mac Studio M2/M3 Ultra, 128 GB+ RAM
• Miner: MacBook Pro M-Series Max, 64 GB+ RAM
• Edge: Kneron KL720 USB accelerator (via sharded pools)

InferNet is the useful work layer on top of TensorChain. Miners execute AI inference tasks (image classification, text embedding) and earn additional rewards. Results are verified through optimistic fraud proofs with bisection protocols.

All network traffic is encapsulated in 32 KB Sphinx packets that undergo cryptographic transformation at each hop. Nodes generate constant-rate cover traffic, so real transactions "hide in the crowd." External observers cannot correlate sender and receiver.

Po8 implements a view key hierarchy for selective disclosure:

• Spending Key (sk): Authorizes transfers
• Full Viewing Key (fvk): Decrypts all transactions (for auditors)
• Incoming Viewing Key (ivk): Decrypts only incoming funds (for merchants)
• Transaction View Key (tvk): Decrypts a single transaction (for disputes)

Po8 is "compliance-optional." Users can share view keys with auditors, prove KYC credentials via zero-knowledge proofs, and participate in whitelisted DeFi pools. Institutions can prove solvency via zkLedger without exposing customer data.

AmneziaWG is an obfuscated fork of WireGuard that evades Deep Packet Inspection. Po8 nodes can operate as dVPN relays using AmneziaWG, providing censorship-resistant internet access even in hostile jurisdictions.

Install Rust, clone po8-core, build with `cargo build --release`, generate keys, and start with `po8-node start`. See the Getting Started guide for detailed instructions.

Yes. The Incentivized Testnet (Phase 2) is currently active. Participants can earn test tokens by running nodes and submitting mining telemetry. Join the community channels for testnet access.

The Po8 Chrome extension wallet supports ML-DSA signing. For hardware security, the Ledger app provides memory-optimized lattice signatures with WYSIWYS transaction parsing.

Read the full whitepaper for technical details, join the community Discord for discussions, and follow the GitHub repository for development updates.