NEAR Protocol becomes first major blockchain with post-quantum key support

NEAR Protocol activated post-quantum signing support on its mainnet on July 20, 2026, making it one of the first major blockchain networks to ship a production-ready quantum-resistant signature scheme. The feature, delivered through network upgrade 2.13, implements the NIST-standard ML-DSA-65 lattice-based signature scheme, formally known as FIPS-204. That standard was finalized by NIST in August 2024 under its original working name, CRYSTALS-Dilithium. It’s designed to withstand attacks from quantum computers, which could eventually break the elliptic-curve cryptography that secures virtually every blockchain in existence today. What the upgrade actually does The practical upshot is straightforward: NEAR users can now rotate their account keys to a quantum-resistant scheme with a single on-chain transaction. No asset migration required. No new wallet address needed. This is possible because of NEAR’s account model, which was designed for cryptographic flexibility when the mainnet launched in 2020. The architecture supports multiple signature schemes on the same account, so the upgrade doesn’t force anyone’s hand. Users can voluntarily switch while the existing Ed25519 and secp256k...