Kostas “Kryptos” Chalkias, co-founder and chief cryptographer at Mysten Labs—the company behind the Sui blockchain—shared that he is working on creating affordable quantum two-factor authentication (2FA) cards for Sui, adding:
“Last year, with the help of a few friends, I rented a specialized factory at a secret location to mass-produce quantum-safe wallets.”
He set a target: the cost per key for the quantum card should be under $10, with a quantum signature formation time via NFC of 1–2 seconds. Chalkias noted that he is working on this project in his spare time and that he might even get to the point of sponsoring cards for users who cannot afford them.
Furthermore, he directly referenced the recent Coldcard hardware wallet catastrophe as an additional motivator for his current mission, writing:
“What happened to Coldcard will NEVER happen to my people.”
Coinkite, the maker of the popular Coldcard hardware wallet, reported in late July that a firmware vulnerability introduced after a 2021 update allowed bypassing the dedicated hardware random number generator chip when creating keys, replacing it with a predictable software process, in some cases tied to values such as device serial numbers.
Bad actors began draining funds on July 30, with losses growing in waves: approximately 594 $BTC in the first wave, around 1,082 $BTC by August 1, and an estimated 2,055 $BTC worth roughly $130 million from over 7,700 addresses as the vulnerability spread. Alex Thorn, head of research at Galaxy Research, stated that at least 15 distinct bad actors were working with the remaining vulnerable wallets.
And while the Coldcard vulnerability was not a quantum attack, it demonstrated the same fundamental risk that Chalkias is trying to get ahead of: hardware wallets that fail silently at a cryptographic level become potential attack vectors until funds start moving.
Sui's Broader Quantum Security Roadmap
The $10 wallet project builds upon work already underway at the protocol level. Sui stated that it plans to add two National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)-approved post-quantum signature schemes: one for everyday accounts and a second for high-value, Move-based vaults.
Existing Sui accounts will be able to transition to a quantum-safe key derived from their existing recovery phrase, rather than requiring a full migration to a new wallet. Chalkias emphasized Sui's ability to adopt new authentication methods, including post-quantum cryptography, as a structural advantage over chains that would require a more radical hard fork to implement similar changes.
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