Aptos Moves to Future-Proof Security With Post-Quantum Signatures
- Aptos Labs has proposed AIP-137, which introduces optional “post-quantum” account signatures to protect user funds against future threats from powerful quantum computers.
- If approved by governance, the network will support SLH-DSA (formerly SPHINCS+), a stateless, hash-based signature scheme recently standardised by NIST as FIPS 205.
- The upgrade is entirely opt-in, allowing users to proactively migrate to quantum-resistant accounts without forcing changes or disruptions to existing Aptos accounts.
Leading blockchain protocol Aptos is looking to add optional “post-quantum” account signatures, so users can protect funds if future quantum computers ever become strong enough to break today’s digital signatures.
Aptos Labs has put forward AIP-137. If governance approves it, Aptos would support SLH-DSA, a post-quantum signature standardised as FIPS 205, as a new account signature type.
The change would be opt-in. Existing Aptos accounts would not be forced to switch. Users who want extra protection could create or migrate to a post-quantum account type, while everyone else continues as normal.
Related: Visa Brings USDC Settlement Onshore, Accelerating Stablecoins in U.S. Payments
Ramping Up Security
Blockchains rely on digital signatures to prove who owns an account and to approve transactions, but while today’s schemes are safe against conventional computers, a powerful enough quantum machine could eventually forge signatures and impersonate users.
Aptos says it’s acting early as standards work ramps up, including post-quantum cryptography standards from NIST.
Aptos is a layer-1 proof-of-stake network built for decentralised apps. It has also been used for tokenised real-world asset products, including deployments linked to asset managers such as Franklin Templeton and BlackRock.
Other networks are taking similar early steps, like Solana, which recently tested quantum-resistant transactions on a separate testnet to see how post-quantum signatures could be added without disrupting current users.
In the Bitcoin community, some are pushing proposals such as BIP-360 to introduce quantum-resistant signature options, though the idea is still debated.
Others, including early Bitcoin figure Adam Back, argue that near-term quantum risk is overstated and that practical quantum machines capable of breaking signature schemes are not imminent.
Related: Solana Shrugs Off Massive DDoS Attack as Network Performance Holds Steady
The post Aptos Moves to Future-Proof Security With Post-Quantum Signatures appeared first on Crypto News Australia.
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