Quantum-Resistant Crypto Pilot Hits NEAR Testnet

Quantum-Resistant Crypto Pilot with Banks on NEAR In major Crypto news, a new quantum-resistant crypto pilot has gone live, and this time it is not developers alone testing the waters. Regulated banks and financial regulators from three continents are now part of the experiment. The Responsible Fintech Institute (RFI) and digital asset custody firm Safeheron announced the initiative on August 23, 2026, as confirmed in the official press release. The programme evaluates post-quantum cryptography for wallet generation and on-chain transfers, running entirely on a quantum-resistant NEAR testnet. News of the launch spread quickly on crypto social media too, with thecrypto_banter post on X summarising the pilot as the first major quantum-resistant crypto pilot to bring banks and regulators together on the same infrastructure. What The Quantum-Resistant Crypto Pilot Actually Tests At its core, this quantum-resistant crypto pilot is built around a multi-party computation protocol, commonly shortened to MPC quantum cryptography. That supports ML-DSA-65, the digital signature standard formalized by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology under FIPS 204. Instead of theorizing about quantum risk, participants are running live tests: Wallet generation using post-quantum signature schemes. On-chain transfers inside a shared application environment. Non-custodial 2-of-2 MPC key control designed to limit operational burden. Cross-border interoperability checks between different regulatory regimes. Safeheron is handling the engineering side, contributing what amounts to a Safeheron quantum wallet framework for the pilot, whileResponsible Fintech Institute leads governance and coordination across jurisdictions. Who Is Involved Role Participant Technology partner Safeheron Convening body Responsible Fintech Institute Banks Bison Bank, DK Bank Regulators (observer role) Abu Dhabi Global Market, Gelephu Financial Services Office (Bhutan), Malta Financial Services Authority The involvement of Bison Bank DK Bank testing alongside three separate regulators is notable. Banks are handling the technical side, generating post-quantum wallets for banks and moving test transfers, while regulators currently observe the first phase before contributing to a governance workstream later. Why ML-DSA-65 And NEAR Protocol Quantum Security Matter Public-key cryptography underpinning most blockchains today is not built to withstand a sufficiently powerful quantum computer. NEAR was chosen partly because its account model already supports key rotation, making the shift to NEAR protocol quantum security more practical than on chains where addresses are permanently tied to a single keypair. RFI Chairman Chia Hock Lai said no single bank, vendor, or regulator can solve this alone, and that testing the same post-quantum architecture across jurisdictions builds a compliance and security reference the industry can stand on. Safeheron's Chief Security and Policy Officer Jag Foo said AI is accelerating the pace of change and bringing the quantum threat closer to reality, adding that Safeheron intends to open-source its PQC code so cryptography securing institutional assets stands up to independent scrutiny rather than asking for trust.