# Bittensor (TAO) Quantum Readiness Report

> Bittensor has a QRI score of 10/100 and is assessed at Stage 1 (Quantum Risk Assessed) with medium evidence confidence.

Evaluation date: 2026-06-01. Review status: draft. Evaluated scope: native asset TAO on Subtensor blockchain.

Bittensor (TAO) is a Substrate-based blockchain using sr25519 (Schnorr signatures over Curve25519) for all spend authorization, consensus authentication, and node identity. All coldkey and hotkey public keys are long-exposure on-chain. The Opentensor Foundation has not published a post-quantum cryptographic inventory, quantum threat model, or migration roadmap. The MEV Shield pallet uses NIST-standardized ML-KEM-768 for transaction encryption against front-running, demonstrating quantum-awareness, but this does not protect asset ownership from quantum key-recovery attacks. Ecosystem subnets perform quantum computing research, but this is application-layer activity that does not confer quantum resistance to the TAO token or Subtensor protocol. The project inherits the Substrate/Polkadot cryptographic roadmap and would likely depend on upstream PQ signature support. QRI Score of 10 reflects Stage 1 (Quantum Risk Assessed) status capped by the absence of a public cryptographic inventory: quantum risk is implicitly acknowledged through MEV Shield design and ecosystem activity, but no meaningful production protection exists, and no formal risk assessment or migration plan has been published.

## Core resources

- [Bittensor QRI report](https://qrindex.org/projects/bittensor/): Human-readable assessment with score, stage, evidence, blockers, risks, and assurance notes.
- [Bittensor structured report data](https://qrindex.org/projects/bittensor/report.json): Complete report as JSON for deterministic machine processing.
- [QRI methodology](https://qrindex.org/methodology/): Scoring model, evidence handling, readiness stages, confidence, assurance, and report status.
- [All QRI project reports](https://qrindex.org/llms.txt): Score-ranked index of every published project assessment.
- [Bittensor official website](https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/bittensor): Project-maintained website.



## Evidence sources

- [Evidence source 1](<https://docs.bittensor.com/>): Public source cited by the Bittensor QRI assessment.
- [Evidence source 2](<https://github.com/opentensor/subtensor>): Public source cited by the Bittensor QRI assessment.
- [Evidence source 3](<https://docs.learnbittensor.org/>): Public source cited by the Bittensor QRI assessment.
- [Evidence source 4](<https://taostats.io/>): Public source cited by the Bittensor QRI assessment.
- [Evidence source 5](<https://subtensor.com/reference>): Public source cited by the Bittensor QRI assessment.
- [Evidence source 6](<https://subtensor.com/learn/blockchain-primer>): Public source cited by the Bittensor QRI assessment.
- [Evidence source 7](<https://subtensor.com/reference/mechanisms/mev-shield>): Public source cited by the Bittensor QRI assessment.
- [Evidence source 8](<https://subtensor.com/learn/technical/mev-shield>): Public source cited by the Bittensor QRI assessment.
- [Evidence source 9](<https://github.com/opentensor/subtensor/pull/2477>): Public source cited by the Bittensor QRI assessment.
- [Evidence source 10](<https://github.com/opentensor/bittensor>): Public source cited by the Bittensor QRI assessment.
- [Evidence source 11](<https://bittensor.com/wallet>): Public source cited by the Bittensor QRI assessment.
- [Evidence source 12](<https://www.abittensorjourney.com/p/quantum-threats-quantum-subnets>): Public source cited by the Bittensor QRI assessment.
- [Evidence source 13](<https://tao.app/metrics>): Public source cited by the Bittensor QRI assessment.
- [Evidence source 14](<https://docs.learnbittensor.org/learn/announcements>): Public source cited by the Bittensor QRI assessment.
- [Evidence source 15](<https://github.com/opentensor/bittensor/blob/master/SECURITY.md>): Public source cited by the Bittensor QRI assessment.
- [Evidence source 16](<https://blog.bittensor.com/bittnesor-community-update-july-3-2024-45661b1d542d>): Public source cited by the Bittensor QRI assessment.
- [Evidence source 17](<https://messari.io/project/bittensor>): Public source cited by the Bittensor QRI assessment.
- [Evidence source 18](<https://hacken.io/audits/taoshi/>): Public source cited by the Bittensor QRI assessment.