The contract that enforces every agent's spending limits is built to be controlled only by ML-DSA-65 keys, the NIST post-quantum signature standard, on NEAR mainnet. It is not deployed yet; when it is, you can check its keys live below. Here is the plan, and what will still depend on Solana, NEAR and Zcash upgrading.
The only key type the policy account will hold.
The deployment key is deleted in an ML-DSA-signed transaction.
Symmetric encryption and SHA-2/SHA-3 hashes hold up.
The keys that can change the agent policy contract. Once it is deployed, this box reads them straight from NEAR in your browser.
On-chain proof
Every step of the key rotation is a public NEAR mainnet transaction. The links are published here with the contract address.
Blockchains keep everything forever. Someone can save today's encrypted balances and signatures and break them once a quantum computer exists. That is called harvest now, decrypt later, and it means data written today has to survive Q-Day, whenever it comes.
Accounts are not their keys
A NEAR account is a name like alice.near, controlled by access keys that can be added and removed. On Bitcoin or Ethereum the address is the key, so a broken key means a lost address. On NEAR you rotate the key and keep the account.
ML-DSA-65 is live on mainnet
Since nearcore 2.13, NEAR accepts ML-DSA-65 (NIST FIPS 204, formerly Dilithium) as a third signature scheme next to Ed25519 and secp256k1. Any account can add an ML-DSA key and remove its old ones in one transaction, and that account is then post-quantum at the key level.
Wallets are following
Meteor Wallet signs with ML-DSA today. Ledger and other wallets are working on it with Near One.
Contracts can verify it next
nearcore 2.14, in release candidates now, adds an ml_dsa_verify host function so contracts can check ML-DSA signatures themselves, and universal accounts with a post-quantum-safe derivation.
| Work | Status | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Post-quantum consensus | End of 2027 | Validators still sign blocks with Ed25519. |
| Post-quantum Chain Signatures | No timeline yet | No practical post-quantum threshold scheme exists today. |
| Falcon (FN-DSA) | Under consideration | Smaller signatures than ML-DSA. |
| Seed-phrase ownership proofs | Research | Prove you own a key with a zero-knowledge proof of its seed, which quantum computers cannot reverse. |
Keshi uses three chains, and each moves at its own pace. We won't call Keshi quantum-proof until every row below is.
| Part of Keshi | Today | Path to post-quantum |
|---|---|---|
| Keys that can change the agent policy contract | Not deployed yet | ML-DSA-65 keys only, from deployment. |
| Agent limit checks | Run on NEAR | Fully post-quantum when NEAR consensus is, targeted for end of 2027. |
| Agent wallets on Solana (NEAR Chain Signatures) | Ed25519 threshold signing | Waits on post-quantum threshold signing, which has no timeline. |
| Encrypted balances and amounts | ElGamal on Curve25519, set by Solana | Waits on a post-quantum confidential token standard on Solana. |
| Stealth transfers | Zcash Orchard via NEAR Intents | Waits on Zcash and NEAR Intents. |
| Signed audit exports | Ed25519 and ML-DSA-65 on every export | Both signatures are part of the export format; the audit portal checks them in your browser. |
| Webhook signatures | HMAC-SHA256 | Already quantum-resistant: symmetric, like the stored secrets below. |
| Stored secrets (API keys, view keys) | AES-256-GCM | Already quantum-resistant. |
Sources: Near One’s Preparing NEAR for the Quantum Computing Era and the post-quantum roadmap, the nearcore 2.13 release notes and NIST FIPS 204. Timelines are NEAR’s and can change.