Via telefonicatech.com
A cross-regional initiative brings together banks, regulators from three jurisdictions, and post-quantum cryptography to stress-test the future of secure digital asset transfers.
The Responsible Fintech Institute (RFI) launched a pilot on August 24, 2026, that pairs banks with post-quantum cryptographic protocols to generate wallets and execute onchain transfers on the NEAR testnet. Regulators from Abu Dhabi, Bhutan, and Malta are sitting in as governance observers, making this one of the first structured efforts to get financial supervisors and quantum-safe crypto infrastructure in the same room.
The pilot uses multi-party computation (MPC) signing built on the NIST FIPS 204 ML-DSA-65 digital signature standard. It applies a federally vetted algorithm designed to withstand attacks from quantum computers to the process of creating and co-signing crypto wallets, then tests whether real transactions survive the gauntlet.
Who’s at the table #
Safeheron, a digital asset custody technology firm, is providing the cryptographic backbone. On the banking side, participants include Bison Bank and DK Bank, both testing the protocol under institutional conditions.
Three regulatory bodies are observing: the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), Bhutan’s Gelephu Financial Services Office (GFSO), and the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA). Their role is not to rubber-stamp outcomes but to participate in governance discussions, helping align whatever emerges with existing regulatory frameworks.
How the protocol actually works #
The architecture uses a non-custodial 2-of-2 MPC design. That means two separate parties each hold a share of the private key, and both must cooperate to sign a transaction. Neither party ever possesses the full key on its own.
The ML-DSA-65 algorithm at the core was standardized by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology as part of its post-quantum cryptography suite. NIST spent years evaluating candidates before finalizing FIPS 204, and ML-DSA-65 sits at the medium security level of that family. It is designed to be resistant to Shor’s algorithm, the quantum procedure that would, on a sufficiently powerful quantum computer, break the elliptic-curve cryptography that secures most blockchain wallets today.
By running this on NEAR’s quantum-resistant testnet, the pilot can simulate real onchain conditions without risking actual assets.
Why the urgency #
The threat model that keeps cryptographers up at night is called “harvest now, decrypt later.” Adversaries can intercept and store encrypted data today, then decrypt it once quantum machines are powerful enough. For financial transactions, that means today’s onchain records could become tomorrow’s vulnerabilities.
This pilot aligns with broader institutional momentum. The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has issued guidance on quantum-readiness for the financial sector. In Asia, the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Association of Banks in Singapore launched an AI-driven cyber taskforce that explicitly includes quantum threats. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority has its own quantum preparedness initiative underway.
What comes next #
RFI plans to produce a comprehensive whitepaper documenting the pilot’s findings. The underlying PQC protocols will eventually be open-sourced, allowing independent auditing and broader industry adoption.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our