Waves is one of Europe's most successful homegrown blockchain projects — a fully-featured platform for decentralised exchange, token issuance, and smart contracts via its Ride language. But Waves' security architecture rests on Curve25519 Ed25519, an elliptic curve scheme broken by Shor's algorithm — the same vulnerability as Stellar (XLM). With over 10 years of mainnet history since June 2016, Waves carries one of the largest HNDL exposure windows in crypto. BMIC is built with NIST FIPS 203/204/205 quantum-safe cryptography from genesis. This page compares the two head-to-head.
Buy BMIC at $0.0528542 →Waves uses Curve25519 Ed25519 for all account keys, DEX order signing, Ride smart contract invocations, and LPoS validator node signatures. Ed25519 is broken by Shor's algorithm. Waves mainnet launched June 2016 — over 10 years of public key material on-chain. BMIC implements NIST FIPS 203 (ML-KEM), FIPS 204 (ML-DSA), and FIPS 205 (SLH-DSA) from genesis. Zero HNDL exposure. Waves has a 10-year HNDL window; BMIC has none.
| Criterion | BMIC | Waves (WAVES) |
|---|---|---|
| Signature Scheme | ML-DSA / SLH-DSA (NIST FIPS 204/205) | Curve25519 Ed25519 (ECDLP — quantum-vulnerable, same as Stellar) |
| Key Exchange | ML-KEM (NIST FIPS 203 / Kyber) | ECDH over Curve25519 (ECDLP — quantum-vulnerable) |
| Quantum Resistance | Full — NIST FIPS 203/204/205 certified | None — Ed25519 broken by Shor's algorithm |
| HNDL Exposure Window | None — post-quantum by design from genesis | 10+ years (mainnet Jun 2016 → present) — one of the largest in crypto |
| Smart Contracts | ERC-4337 UserOperations + Ethereum EVM | Ride (functional language, Waves-native; not EVM-compatible) |
| DEX / Exchange | Ethereum DEX ecosystem (Uniswap, etc.) | Waves Exchange (built-in order book DEX; Ed25519-signed orders) |
| Consensus | Ethereum PoS (underlying) | Leased Proof of Stake (LPoS) — Ed25519 validator + lessee keys |
| Token Standard | ERC-20 + ERC-4337 | Waves Standard Token (WST) — native Waves assets |
| Total Supply | 1.5 billion BMIC (fixed) | ~107 million WAVES (fixed; no block reward inflation) |
| Presale Allocation | 50% to public presale | ICO Apr–May 2016 (~$16M raised); now exchange-traded |
| Mainnet Status | Presale — TGE Q4 2026 | Live since June 2016 (10+ yr track record) |
| Presale Price | $0.0528542 | Market-traded (exchange listed) |
| Quantum-Safe at TGE | Yes — NIST FIPS 203/204/205 from genesis | No — Ed25519 throughout; no PQC roadmap published |
NIST published three finalised post-quantum cryptography standards in August 2024. BMIC implements all three. Waves implements none.
Module-Lattice-Based Key Encapsulation Mechanism (CRYSTALS-Kyber). Replaces ECDH for key exchange. Security from MLWE — no known quantum speedup.
Module-Lattice-Based Digital Signature Algorithm (CRYSTALS-Dilithium). Replaces Ed25519 for every BMIC transaction. Resists Shor's algorithm.
Stateless Hash-Based Digital Signature Algorithm (SPHINCS+). Backup signature scheme with hash-only security — the most conservative PQC primitive.
Waves and Stellar both chose Curve25519 Ed25519 as their signature scheme. Ed25519 is an Edwards-curve Digital Signature Algorithm (EdDSA) over Curve25519 — a twisted Edwards curve. The security of Ed25519 rests on the elliptic curve discrete logarithm problem (ECDLP): given public key Q = d·G, computing private key d is computationally infeasible on a classical computer. On a CRQC running Shor's algorithm, it is solved in polynomial time. Waves has used Ed25519 since genesis — June 2016 — giving adversaries over 10 years of public key material to harvest.
Every order placed on Waves Exchange is signed with the account's Ed25519 private key, and the public key is broadcast. Active DEX traders may broadcast their public key hundreds or thousands of times — dramatically increasing the HNDL dataset density compared to simple holders who never trade. Waves DEX has processed millions of orders since 2017. Each order is an archived Ed25519 public key for future quantum attack. Heavy DEX users are the highest-risk Waves accounts under HNDL threat.
Waves' Ride smart contract invocations are signed transactions. Every dApp interaction on Waves — calling a Ride function, claiming staking rewards, participating in DeFi protocols — signs with the account's Ed25519 private key and broadcasts the public key. Active DeFi users on Waves produce an especially rich HNDL dataset: their public keys appear across multiple contract invocations, lease transactions, and DEX orders — each occasion recorded permanently on-chain.
Waves uses Leased Proof of Stake (LPoS) where any account holder can lease WAVES to a full node to earn staking rewards. Lease transactions are signed with the lessee's Ed25519 key and broadcast to the network. Full node validator keys — which sign blocks — are long-lived Ed25519 public keys registered on-chain for the validator's active period. Both lessees and validators have publicly exposed Ed25519 keys, with validators being the highest-value targets (block signing authority).
Unlike Qtum (which added EVM on top of UTXO), Waves uses its own Ride language and has not adopted EVM compatibility as of October 2026. This means Waves users cannot simply port Ethereum tooling — they depend on the Waves ecosystem's own wallet, DEX, and dApp infrastructure. This makes the migration coordination challenge for any future PQC upgrade even more complex: the Waves developer community must migrate Ride contracts, the Waves Exchange DEX order system, LPoS lease contracts, and all wallet software independently of the broader Ethereum/EVM ecosystem.
| Metric | BMIC | Waves (WAVES) |
|---|---|---|
| Total Supply | 1.5 billion BMIC (fixed) | ~107 million WAVES (fixed — no inflation) |
| Public Allocation | 50% to public presale | ~85M WAVES in ICO Apr–May 2016; now exchange-traded |
| Team Allocation | 3% (hard cap) | Waves team + foundation allocation (substantial reserve) |
| Inflation | None | None (fixed supply, no block reward inflation) |
| Presale Price | $0.0528542 | Exchange-traded (no presale stage) |
| Funds Raised | $662,646+ in presale; 186+ media features | ~$16M ICO (Apr–May 2016); Russian venture + community backing |
| Quantum-Safe | Yes — NIST FIPS 203/204/205 from genesis | No — Ed25519 throughout; no PQC roadmap |
No. Waves uses Curve25519 Ed25519 for all account key pairs, transaction signatures, DEX order signing, Ride contract invocations, and LPoS lease/validator keys. Ed25519 is broken by Shor's algorithm — identically to Stellar's vulnerability. Waves has no published PQC roadmap as of October 2026.
Every Waves DEX order broadcasts the signing account's Ed25519 public key. Active traders who have placed many orders have their public keys recorded many times in the HNDL dataset — increasing adversary confidence in the public key's validity and the value of attacking it. Heavy DEX traders are the highest-risk accounts under HNDL strategy.
Yes. Both Waves and Stellar use Curve25519 Ed25519 with the same mathematical structure. The quantum attack via Shor's algorithm is identical for both. The key difference is the HNDL window: Waves launched June 2016 (10+ years), Stellar launched November 2015 (11+ years). Both are among the longest-running HNDL exposure windows in crypto.
BMIC implements NIST FIPS 203 (ML-KEM), FIPS 204 (ML-DSA), and FIPS 205 (SLH-DSA). These have no known quantum speedup. BMIC is quantum-safe from genesis — no migration required, no HNDL exposure.
BMIC is currently in presale at $0.0528542 per token. 1.5B total supply, 50% to public presale. $662,646+ raised. TGE Q4 2026. Visit bmic.ai.
Visit bmic.ai. Always do your own research. Not investment advice.