Quantum-resistant hash function BLAKE-PQ. Part 1

Quantum-resistant hash function BLAKE-PQ. Part 1

Petrenko A.S. (SPC RAS, Saint Petersburg, Russia)

Abstract

The article analyzes threats to symmetric cryptographic primitives in the face of emerging quantum algorithms that potentially outperform preimage and collision searches. It also formulates the problem of constructing a new cryptographic hash function based on the BLAKE3 algorithm, designated BLAKE-PQ, designed for use in high-load systems, including blockchain systems. The proposed architecture consists of seven modifications. The first part of this paper discusses the following: introducing a multiplicative transform into the round function to break the purely additive and bitwise linear structure, adding a nonlinear layer based on a substitution table, using specially designed non-Abelian state permutations between rounds, and nonlinear mixing of values in the Merkle tree when merging child nodes. For each of these components, a target class of potential quantum attacks is formulated (hidden shift and hidden subgroup algorithms, methods for modulo-two sum-type problems, advanced collision detection, and algebraic quantum cryptanalysis), the impact on the algebraic structure and statistical properties of the internal state is assessed, and the additional time overhead is analyzed. In the second part of this paper, the overall slowdown relative to the original BLAKE3 algorithm is estimated, the estimated performance is compared with currently common hash functions, and general conclusions for the overall work are drawn.

Keywords

post-quantum cryptography; symmetric cryptography; hash function; quantum cryptanalysis; hidden algebraic and group structures; Merkle tree; lattice problems; chaotic dynamical systems; blockchain systems.

Edition

Proceedings of the Institute for System Programming, vol. 38, issue 6, part 2, 2026, pp. 363-384

ISSN 2220-6426 (Online), ISSN 2079-8156 (Print).

DOI: 10.15514/ISPRAS-2026-38(6)-43

For citation

Petrenko A.S. Quantum-resistant hash function BLAKE-PQ. Part 1. Proceedings of the Institute for System Programming, vol. 38, issue 6, part 2, 2026, pp. 363-384 DOI: 10.15514/ISPRAS-2026-38(6)-43.

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