--- title: How Algorand became one of the few chains shipping post-quantum defences description: Algorand has run Falcon on mainnet since 2022, and native post-quantum accounts landed in August 2026. What shipped, and where the line falls now. url: "https://hardyindex.com/news/algorand-falcon-shipped" section: Readiness history type: readiness-history published: 2026-08-12 updated: 2026-08-13 chains: algorand methodology_version: 1.4 --- # How Algorand became one of the few chains shipping post-quantum defences **Algorand has run Falcon, a NIST-selected post-quantum signature scheme, on mainnet since 2022, and native Falcon-1024 accounts arrived in the consensus release of August 2026. Standard accounts still default to Ed25519 and the post-quantum type is opt-in, so broad resilience, targeted for the end of 2027, is not here yet.** *Published 12 August 2026. The rating below is current as of 2 October 2026. This is a security-readiness assessment, not investment advice.* Shipping and finished are different things, and the gap between them is where most of the interesting detail lives. ## What actually shipped, and when Most chains talking about post-quantum cryptography are describing intentions. Algorand is one of a small number that can point at something running on mainnet, and it has been running for years. From Algorand's own technology pages. - **2022**: State Proofs go live on mainnet, signed with Falcon by node runners composing a supermajority of the stake. Falcon is a post-quantum signature scheme selected by NIST, so this is a real deployment of a serious algorithm rather than a demonstration. Source: https://algorand.co/technology/post-quantum - **November 2025**: Falcon-based accounts are used on mainnet for the first time, producing some of the first quantum-resistant transactions on the network. Source: https://algorand.co/technology/post-quantum - **12 August 2026**: The go-algorand 5.0.0 stable consensus release adds "native Falcon-1024 account signatures, PQ delegated LogicSigs, and new algokey pq commands for PQ key management", turning post-quantum accounts from a construction built on LogicSignatures into a native account type. Source: https://github.com/algorand/go-algorand/releases/tag/v5.0.0-stable State Proofs are worth understanding, because they do something specific rather than general. They attest to the ledger's state. That lets another chain, or a light client, verify Algorand history without trusting a middleman. Signing them with Falcon means that attestation of the chain's past survives a quantum computer. ## Where the protection stops Here is the part that gets flattened in most coverage. If you hold ALGO in an ordinary account today, your transactions are not signed with Falcon. They are signed with Ed25519, which is an elliptic-curve scheme and which Shor's algorithm breaks. Falcon protection covers three things now: State Proofs, accounts built on LogicSignatures, and since August 2026 a native post-quantum account type in the protocol itself. The native type removes the size and program limits the LogicSignature route carried. All of it is opt-in, and Algorand's own documentation has been plain about where the line falls at every stage, which is why we can state it this precisely. > **The honest summary.** Algorand has post-quantum cryptography deployed on mainnet, in production, protecting the integrity of chain history, and since August 2026 there is a native account type any holder can choose. It still does not protect an ordinary holder's balance by default, and Algorand does not claim it does. ## The roadmap, and the part of it that has now landed The Algorand Foundation published a roadmap targeting broad quantum resilience by the end of 2027, with the first milestones beginning in the third quarter of 2026. The headline item was native Falcon-1024 accounts, described as having "all of the advantages of a regular account and none of the constrained mechanics or program-size limits". That milestone arrived on 12 August 2026, in the go-algorand 5.0.0 consensus release, which shipped native Falcon-1024 account signatures alongside post-quantum delegated LogicSigs and key management tooling. It is the reason this chain's signature score moved, and we wrote it up separately in [why it moved](https://hardyindex.com/news/algorand-native-falcon-accounts-ship). What remains scheduled rather than shipped is the rest: Falcon-512 support and expanded budgets by the end of 2026, research into a post-quantum verifiable random function in early 2027, and the broad resilience target at the end of 2027. Dates on a roadmap are promises rather than facts, and this index scores them accordingly. What raises Algorand above chains making similar promises is that it keeps turning them into releases you can check. ## What this means if you hold ALGO You are on one of the better-prepared chains in this index, and you are not yet personally protected by that preparation. Both halves of that sentence are true at once, and holding them together is the whole skill of reading these ratings. **Where this stands today.** - [Algorand](https://hardyindex.com/chains/algorand): Tier 2: Shipping, Hardy Score 77.5 of 100. As rated by the Hardy Index, current as of 2 October 2026. Ratings change when the evidence does, and every change is recorded at https://hardyindex.com/changelog.md. The thing we said to watch for has now happened. Native Falcon accounts landed in August 2026, so the protocol-level route is open. What has not caught up is the wallet ecosystem, and support in the protocol and support in the wallet you actually use are two different dates. That is the next thing worth watching, and it is the kind of change this index exists to record either way. ## Where to go next - [Algorand: the full rating](https://hardyindex.com/chains/algorand.md): every dimension score, with the source behind each one. - [Which is the most quantum-resistant blockchain?](https://hardyindex.com/guides/most-quantum-resistant-blockchain.md): One question, one answer, with the working shown. This page is a summary of the Hardy Index, which is the live ranking behind it. - [Moving to a quantum-ready chain](https://hardyindex.com/guides/moving-to-a-quantum-ready-chain.md): If you have decided you want assets on a chain built for the quantum era, this is how that works in practice, and the honest case for not doing it. ## Sources Every dated event above carries its own primary source. These are those sources, checked on the dates shown. 1. [Post-Quantum Technology: Algorand's Quantum Resilience Journey](https://algorand.co/technology/post-quantum): Algorand Foundation (primary, checked 12 August 2026) 2. [Algorand targets broad quantum resilience by 2027](https://algorand.co/blog/algorand-targets-broad-quantum-resilience-by-2027): Algorand Foundation (primary, checked 12 August 2026) 3. [Technical Brief: Quantum-resistant transactions on Algorand with Falcon signatures](https://algorand.co/blog/technical-brief-quantum-resistant-transactions-on-algorand-with-falcon-signatures): Algorand Foundation (primary, checked 12 August 2026) 4. [Algorand 5.0.0 stable release](https://github.com/algorand/go-algorand/releases/tag/v5.0.0-stable): algorand (GitHub) (primary, checked 13 August 2026) --- Cite as: The Hardy Index, "How Algorand became one of the few chains shipping post-quantum defences", https://hardyindex.com/news/algorand-falcon-shipped, published 12 August 2026.