Quantum Security Startup Project Eleven Acquires Riva Labs, Adding Post-Quantum Wallet Tech

Project Eleven’s Bold Move: Acquiring Riva Labs to Accelerate Post‑Quantum Wallets

In a single headline‑making transaction, Project Eleven—an up‑and‑coming quantum‑security startup—has acquired Riva Labs, a boutique cryptography engineering team known for its work on hash‑based signatures and post‑quantum wallet technology. The deal, announced on September 29 2026, brings Riva’s intellectual property, research pipeline, and engineering talent under Project Eleven’s umbrella, positioning the company to lead the migration of major blockchains to quantum‑resistant cryptography.

Why Post‑Quantum Matters for Crypto

Current public‑key schemes such as ECDSA and EdDSA, which secure Bitcoin, Ethereum, and many other networks, can be broken by a sufficiently powerful quantum computer using Shor’s algorithm. While large‑scale quantum machines are still years away, the cryptographic community has been preparing for a future where a single quantum computer could compromise millions of wallets. Post‑quantum (PQ) cryptography—particularly hash‑based signature schemes like XMSS and LMS—offers a mathematically proven resistance to quantum attacks.

Project Eleven has been at the forefront of this effort, raising $20 million in a Series A round in January 2026 and partnering with the Solana Foundation and Ripple to run quantum‑resistant testnets and custody prototypes. The acquisition of Riva Labs is a strategic step to close the gap between research and production, allowing Project Eleven to deliver end‑to‑end PQ solutions that include wallets, hardware signers, and multi‑party computation (MPC) setups.

What Riva Labs Brings to the Table

Riva Labs has focused on hash‑based signatures and has already demonstrated PQ signing on consumer hardware. Their portfolio includes:

• Software wallets that support XMSS/LMS signatures, enabling users to sign transactions without exposing private keys to quantum‑threats.
• Hardware signers that integrate PQ algorithms, ensuring that offline key storage remains secure even in a post‑quantum world.
• MPC frameworks that allow multiple parties to jointly sign a transaction, distributing trust and mitigating single‑point failures.
• Account abstraction research that explores how PQ signatures can be integrated into existing smart‑contract platforms without breaking composability.

The intellectual property acquired—patents, source code, and research notes—provides Project Eleven with a ready‑made foundation to accelerate product development and deployment.

A Unified Approach to Migration

Alex Pruden, CEO and co‑founder of Project Eleven, emphasized that the acquisition “accelerates our ability to lead the transition to post‑quantum security across digital assets.” By consolidating expertise in signatures, wallets, key management, and protocol infrastructure, the company can treat the migration as a single, coherent problem rather than a series of isolated upgrades.

The integration also dovetails with Project Eleven’s AI‑driven research pipeline. Riva Labs has leveraged machine‑learning techniques to optimize hash‑based signature generation and to model potential quantum attack vectors. This synergy is expected to shorten the time from theoretical breakthrough to market‑ready product.

Looking Ahead: Impact on Major Blockchains

With the acquisition, Project Eleven is poised to offer turnkey PQ solutions to the largest networks. Ripple’s ongoing collaboration on validator testing and early custody prototypes is likely to accelerate, while Solana’s testnet already showcases quantum‑resistant transactions. Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other chains that rely on ECDSA will soon face the same upgrade challenge that has prompted the industry to consider hard forks and protocol‑level changes.

The move signals a broader industry shift: as quantum threats become more tangible, the need for end‑to‑end PQ infrastructure will grow. Project Eleven’s expanded capabilities position it to become a key vendor for custodians, exchanges, and protocol developers seeking to future‑proof their ecosystems.

Practical Takeaway for Stakeholders

• Developers should start evaluating PQ libraries and consider integrating Riva’s hash‑based signatures into their projects.
• Custodians and exchanges should monitor Project Eleven’s product releases, as they may offer the first commercially viable PQ wallets and signing hardware.
• Protocol teams should engage with Project Eleven early to assess the feasibility of migrating to PQ signatures without compromising network performance.

In short, Project Eleven’s acquisition of Riva Labs is a decisive step toward a quantum‑resistant crypto future, bringing together research, engineering, and product expertise under one roof.

TL;DR

Project Eleven has acquired Riva Labs, adding hash‑based post‑quantum wallet tech and IP to accelerate the migration of major blockchains to quantum‑resistant cryptography.