Qbit Mainnet is Live: Post-Quantum from Block Zero Digital assets can no longer rely on outdated cryptographic assumptions. Quantum computing hardware has rapidly advanced while estimates of the number of qubits required to break elliptic-curve cryptography continue to decline, compressing the timeline for a cryptographically relevant quantum computer from both ends. Google highlighted this in its March 2026 paper, specifically mentioning that Bitcoin and nearly every major blockchain need to prepare now to be ready by 2029. This risk has been understood since Bitcoin’s earliest days. In 2010, Satoshi acknowledged that a threat to digital signatures could be addressed by having owners move their coins into outputs protected by a stronger signature algorithm. More than 15 years later, migration remains the only viable remedy, but it depends on a condition unprecedented in Bitcoin’s history: holders must move their coins to remain safe. Active holders can migrate. Lost coins, inactive holders, and abandoned wallets cannot. This leaves existing cryptocurrencies with a philosophical problem of how to treat coins that do not migrate, one that cryptography alone cannot solve. Doing nothing allows a quantum computer to claim vulnerable coins that represent a meaningful share of the supply. Freezing or burning those coins overrides existing property rights. Recovering them through another mechanism requires social judgment about legitimate ownership. Every path compromises a core principle of crypto, whether neutrality, immutability, permissionless ownership, or reliance on cryptographic proof. Every existing major blockchain inherits some version of this problem. A post-quantum upgrade can create a safer destination, but it cannot move inactive supply or erase the vulnerable history that came before it. The only clean solution is to build a blockchain that is quantum-resistant from its first block. For this reason, we built Qbit. Qbit is a post-quantum proof-of-work UTXO blockchain built from its own genesis block with a fixed 210 million supply cap, mining-only distribution, no premine, and no outside token allocation. Qbit's native asset, QBT, is designed with quantum security from inception for long-term ownership. Every spendable output begins inside the same post-quantum security model. P2MR outputs keep spend keys hidden until use, while hash-based signatures from the SLH-DSA family authorize transactions without relying on elliptic-curve cryptography. There is no inherited supply, no vulnerable legacy wallet class, and no future migration deadline. Qbit combines permissionless SHA-256 mining with Bitcoin-linked AuxPoW merge mining on a single most-work chain, giving existing miners, pools and ASIC infrastructure a post-quantum blockchain they can secure using the stack they already operate. Qbit’s initial difficulty is calibrated so that the expected permissionless SHA-256 cost of mining a block matches the value of its block reward at a QBT fully diluted valuation of $100 million. This calibration is intentionally high to prevent instamining and promote fair distribution before network difficulty reaches equilibrium with hashrate. Existing blockchains are working on migration and quantum resistance; Qbit offers a purpose-built post-quantum blockchain from inception. Today, Qbit mainnet is live. Qbit’s mainnet genesis block hash and AuxPoW chain ID are now public. To review and contribute to the code, verify the network parameters, run a node, or begin mining, visit qbit.org.

Qbit’s first emission step-down arrived at block 43,200 on August 14, 2026, the first scheduled reduction in new QBT issuance since mainnet launch. The block subsidy fell 4.32%, from 210 QBT to 200.92 QBT. Under Qbit’s emission schedule, issuance steps down by this percentage every 43,200 blocks as the network progresses toward its fixed 210M QBT cap. As of block 61,607, 12.77M QBT is in circulation, equal to 6.08% of the maximum supply. The network is now 42.6% through its second emission era, with the next step-down to 192.24 QBT in block subsidy scheduled for block 86,400 (estimated Sept 13, 2026). Circulating supply is entirely issued through open proof of work via permissionless SHA-256 and AuxPoW merge-mined blocks. See live Qbit network metrics here: qbit.org/metrics

Qbit is approaching mainnet. No sooner than 24 hours from this post, we will publish the release PR committing the genesis block hash and AuxPoW chain ID to Qbit Core’s main branch. Until then, final review continues: we encourage contributors to test, review, and open issues.

Qbit is entering final review ahead of mainnet. During the next week, we encourage contributors to test, review, and open issues. We will give at least 24 hours notice before the genesis block hash and AuxPoW chain ID are committed to Qbit Core’s main branch. Once they land, anyone can build, run, and mine on Qbit mainnet. Core-maintained bootstrap tooling, qbit.org chain metrics, and related materials may take up to 24 hours to follow. Join us on Discord: discord.gg/xqC7MAk95Q

PRISM is now available for mining Qbit. PRISM (Payouts, Rewards, and Integrity Settlement Manifest) is a fully open-source, non-custodial mining pool implementation for Qbit's permissionless SHA-256 lane, released in qbit-mining-bootstrap as part of the Qbit Core suite of mining software. - Miners connect over standard Stratum; accepted shares enter one canonical, append-only ledger with TIDES-style accounting, as documented by OCEAN - Each found block pays miners directly from the coinbase - Larger payout sets settle through OP_CHECKTEMPLATEVERIFY fanout transactions committed when the block is mined. CTV commitments can be nested, so the settlement design scales to any number of miners — bounded by fee and dust economics, not a protocol limit - The pool holds no spend key and cannot redirect or withhold rewards - Published audit bundles are served through PRISM’s audit/public interfaces, while each mined coinbase anchors an audit commitment so miners can verify the published data against the block and recompute the payout split. The first PRISM pool is live on Qbit testnet4: prismpool.io. The complete pool stack ships as open source in qbit-mining-bootstrap, and additional pools will be listed on qbit.org as they come online. Source: github.com/Qbit-Org/qbit-min… Release notes: github.com/Qbit-Org/qbit-min… Documentation: qbit.org

Qbit v0.1.2-testnet4 core client is live. This is a stability update for public testnet4 as Qbit approaches mainnet. Highlight: P2MR/PQC message signing is now available. qbit.org/testnet-0.1.2

Qbit v0.1.1-testnet4 core client is live. The highlight: up to 10x faster TX signing. Also: new RPCs for P2MR/PQC data-hash proofs. Miners: be sure to upgrade prior to testnet4 height 20,500 to prevent block propagation issues. qbit.org/testnet-0.1.1

Today’s dominant blockchains were designed before quantum attacks were credible. Once value exists under vulnerable cryptographic assumptions, migration becomes the hard part: who moves, when they move, and what happens to coins that never do. Qbit starts from a different premise: long-lived digital value needs post-quantum security from inception. Today, Qbit is live and open source in testnet. Qbit is a new UTXO network built around post-quantum ownership from genesis: SLH-DSA / SPHINCS+ hash-based signatures, P2MR outputs that keep public spend keys hidden until use, direct witness-byte accounting, a 60-second aggregate cadence, ASERT retargeting, permissionless SHA-256 mining, and AuxPoW merge mining so Bitcoin-linked hashrate can help secure the chain. QBT is designed as a durable proof-of-work asset: fixed 210M supply, mining-only distribution, no premine, no outside allocation, and no legacy-balance migration. Qbit is a new monetary network with no inherited vulnerabilities in its supply: every output is under the same post-quantum security model. Testnet is where the architecture becomes something you can run, stress, and break. Run Qbit Core. Mine blocks. Operate infrastructure. Open issues and pull requests, and help us strengthen Qbit before mainnet. qbit.org/testnet