Tessera (TSR)

Tessera is a UTXO-based cryptocurrency forked from Bitcoin Core that replaces all elliptic-curve cryptography with post-quantum alternatives. Transaction signatures use ML-DSA-44 (FIPS 204), the primary NIST post-quantum signature standard. Proof of work uses SHA3-256d. The chain retains Bitcoin's Script system, full-node validation, peer-to-peer network, and built-in wallet. It is intended for users and developers who want a Bitcoin-like chain that does not depend on cryptographic primitives with a published deprecation timeline (NIST IR 8547 schedules ECDSA disallowance after 2035). Genesis difficulty is set to 1, allowing CPU mining from the first block.

Single developer project, no third-party audit. ML-DSA-44 signatures are significantly larger than ECDSA (2,420 bytes vs 72 bytes), resulting in higher per-transaction chain growth at full throughput. The output script includes a scheme byte from genesis to allow addition of more compact signature types via future soft fork. No block explorer is currently available. No exchange listings. The 2016-block difficulty adjustment inherited from Bitcoin can cause prolonged block times if hashrate drops suddenly on a small network.