QBTC consensus is CometBFT, forked to use ML-DSA signatures instead of Ed25519. The economic layer is standard Cosmos x/staking and x/distribution. The only QBTC-specific consensus addition is the ebifrost module’s handling of attested Bitcoin block ingestion.
Consensus engine
The chain depends on github.com/btcq-org/cometbft, a fork of CometBFT that replaces Ed25519 with ML-DSA throughout the consensus signing path. See Quantum Resistance (ML-DSA) for details.
Validator set
Validators bond QBTC via the standard Cosmos x/staking module (see Becoming a validator for the step-by-step). The validator set is selected by bonded stake, with the maximum size and slashing parameters configured at genesis.
- Bonding: standard
x/staking semantics (self-bond from the validator’s own account; no inflation, so rewards come from fees and Reserve emission).
- Slashing: standard
x/slashing — double-sign and downtime.
- Unbonding period: 21 days on the current testnet (a genesis parameter; subject to change at mainnet relaunch).
- Validator consensus key: ML-DSA (
/cosmos.crypto.mldsa.PubKey).
- Validator operator (account) key: also ML-DSA — QBTC’s forked Cosmos SDK uses post-quantum account keys, not secp256k1.
Validator responsibilities
In addition to standard Cosmos validator duties, QBTC validators also:
- Run a
bifrost sidecar that watches a Bitcoin full node and gossips signed BTC blocks to peers. See Architecture for the data flow.
- Attest to ingested BTC blocks. The
ebifrost module aggregates these attestations; a block is ingested into QBTC state once more than 2/3 of bonded validator power has attested.
Validator rewards
Validators earn from the Reserve Module (drawn down per the chain’s emission formula) plus transaction fees. There is no inflationary minting. See Tokenomics and the Protocol Specification §2.5.
Governance
Standard Cosmos x/gov. Proposals follow the standard voting period, deposit requirements, and threshold rules. No custom QBTC governance logic.
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Last modified on June 24, 2026
