$648 billion in assets are under quantum threat, Project Eleven uses PQC to build a Bitcoin security firewall

Author: LenaXin, ChainCatcher

Editor: TB, ChainCatcher

In 2024, a project called Project Eleven was quietly launched. Its goal was not liquidity, airdrops or modularization, but to face a long-marginalized but gradually approaching systemic risk: the potential threat of quantum computing to the security of encrypted assets. By deploying Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) mechanisms in Bitcoin and other blockchain protocols, Project Eleven attempts to build a line of defense for the encrypted world before the existing encryption system collapses.

Problems that Project Eleven solves

Project Eleven’s first external product is a protocol tool called “yellowpages”. Its core purpose is to help Bitcoin holders generate a set of quantum-resistant keys and bind them to the original BTC address, thereby providing a “post-quantum proof of ownership” for traditional Bitcoin addresses.

This design does not require users to migrate assets, change usage habits, or switch on-chain identities, but rather establishes an additional security layer on top of the existing Bitcoin address through a combination of off-chain/on-chain. This approach avoids changes to the Bitcoin protocol itself and reduces the resistance to the implementation of PQC at this stage.

According to a set of data released on its official website, as of January 17, 2025, there are more than 6,262,905 bitcoins in the world facing potential quantum cracking risks, corresponding to a value of more than 648 billion US dollars. These bitcoins may become "high-risk assets for quantum attacks" due to static storage, high possibility of private key exposure, and loss of mnemonics. Yellowpages' technical path is aimed at these existing risks and attempts to build a more long-term and effective ownership system.

The project is not aimed at building a new chain, but at providing a set of pluggable, secure and neutral technical components that are preferentially adapted to the Bitcoin ecosystem and may be expanded to other blockchain protocols in the future.

Team Background

Project Eleven's team brings together core members from multiple fields, especially in the fields of cryptographic infrastructure and privacy computing.

• Alex Pruden: CEO of Project Eleven since April 2025. Previously, he served as the president of Layer1 anonymous privacy chain Aleo and has a cryptography background from Stanford University. He once wrote on the X platform that Project Eleven is what he believes to be "one of the few projects in the current Web3 field that truly attempts to prevent systemic risks" and emphasized that "mainstream protocols are still not ready for quantum defense."
• Finn Murphy: Joined in October 2024 as one of the co-founders. He was a partner at the data privacy startup Nebular and also worked at Pool Data (a decentralized data exchange network). He has long been concerned with data sovereignty and basic protocol construction.
• Conor Deegan: Former co-founder and CTO of Pool Data, currently VP of Engineering at Project Eleven, responsible for the integration and deployment path of the overall PQC technology.
• Leeor Mushin: Co-founder of Formation VC. Joined the project co-founding team in January 2025, providing financing and strategic path support in the early stages of the project.

Financing

On June 19, 2025, Project Eleven announced the completion of an early round of financing of US$6 million, led by Web3 investment institution Variant Fund and quantum technology investment institution Quantonation, with participation from public blockchain venture capital company Castle Island Ventures, New York Angel Fund Ambush Capital, early Web3 venture capital institution Formation and other institutions.

In addition, there are several individual investors participating, including:

• Joe Lallouz: Co-founder and former CEO of Bison Trails, currently a partner at Ambush Capital;
• Aaron Henshaw: Co-founder of Bison Trails and current Coinbase Cloud Engineering Director;
• Zaki Manian: Co-founder of Sommelier and an important evangelist of the Cosmos ecosystem;
• Anna Rose: Co-founder of ZK Validator, founder and CEO of Videopath, and active evangelist for the ZK scene.

Project Progress

In June 2025, Project Eleven's first external product "Yellowpages" has completed prototype development and entered protocol verification and early baseline testing. The team is indeed testing key binding logic and registration verification processes. The security review is conducted by Cure 53, and the audit results will be announced soon. The project has not yet released a public user portal, nor has it been connected to the Bitcoin mainnet for widespread deployment.

Currently, Project Eleven has not disclosed any plans to integrate with wallets, exchanges, or node service providers, nor does it have any community governance, incentive plans, or token issuance.