RFI and Safeheron Test Post-Quantum Cryptography for Digital Asset Transactions

Insider Brief

• The Responsible Fintech Institute and Safeheron have launched a cross-regional pilot to test post-quantum cryptography for digital asset transactions with financial institutions and regulatory stakeholders.
• The pilot will evaluate an MPC protocol supporting NIST’s ML-DSA-65 standard through wallet generation and on-chain transfers on the quantum-resistant NEAR testnet.
• Participating institutions will examine technical performance, cross-border interoperability, operational resilience and governance, with a research whitepaper and eventual open-source release planned.

Press release – The Responsible Fintech Institute (RFI) and Safeheron have launched a pilot initiative to evaluate post-quantum cryptography for digital asset transactions, with participation from selected financial institutions and regulatory stakeholders across multiple jurisdictions. The initiative is designed to move quantum-safe financial infrastructure from concept into practical testing with participating institutions.

The pilot will focus on a post-quantum cryptography (PQC) research program built around a multi-party computation (MPC) protocol that supports ML-DSA-65, the NIST FIPS 204 digital signature standard, with participant testing covering wallet generation and on-chain transfer activity on the quantum-resistant NEAR testnet. The initiative brings together banks and regulators from multiple jurisdictions to examine cross-border interoperability, operational resilience and governance considerations in parallel with technical evaluation.

“No single bank, vendor, or regulator solves this alone,” said Chia Hock Lai, Chairman of the Responsible Fintech Institute. “By bringing policymakers and financial institutions across jurisdictions together to test the same post-quantum architecture, and transparently sharing that research with every participant, we are building a compliance and security reference the whole industry can stand on — and a standard we all helped write.”

“AI is accelerating the pace of change and likely bringing the quantum threat closer to reality — quantum-ready infrastructure has never been more critical, and the time to act is now,” said Jag Foo, Chief Security & Policy Officer at Safeheron. “By integrating NIST’s post-quantum signature standard with advanced MPC technology, we are building the architecture required to secure the next generation of financial networks. Safeheron has long advocated for open-source cryptography, because accountability and good governance demand it. We intend to open-source our PQC code. Cryptography securing institutional assets should stand up to independent scrutiny, not ask for trust.”

“As the financial sector prepares for future cybersecurity challenges, initiatives that encourage collaboration and knowledge-sharing among industry participants are increasingly important,” said António Henriques, CEO of Bison Bank. “We are pleased to support discussions around post-quantum security and to contribute to broader industry understanding of how financial institutions can prepare for the evolving risk landscape.”

“We welcome the industry’s initiative to identify a reliable protocol that safeguards digital asset transactions,” said David Peters, Managing Director of the Gelephu Financial Services Office. “Ensuring the continuing integrity of these transactions and protecting client funds is critical to the smooth functioning of the investment market.”

“Preparing for the potential impact of quantum computing on the financial system requires early engagement, collaboration and a better understanding of how post-quantum technologies can operate in practice,” said Alan Decelis, Head of Supervisory ICT Risk and Cybersecurity at the Malta Financial Services Authority. “The MFSA welcomes initiatives that bring together regulators, financial institutions and technology experts to explore these challenges in a controlled environment. Participating in this initiative provides a valuable opportunity to contribute a supervisory perspective while developing our understanding of the operational, governance and resilience considerations associated with the transition towards quantum-safe financial services.”

Why Quantum-Safe Infrastructure Matters

Quantum computing is widely expected to create long-term risks for the public-key cryptography that underpins large parts of today’s financial system, and financial-sector transition planning has become increasingly important. As noted in a 2025 paper on quantum-readiness for the financial system published by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the transition requires coordinated planning, cryptographic agility and phased migration, rather than a simple algorithm swap.

At the same time, regulators are sharpening their focus on AI- and quantum-driven cyber risks. In July 2026, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) announced the AI-Driven Cyber and Technology Risk Taskforce (ACT), an industry-wide initiative to strengthen collective cyber and technology resilience against emerging threats from frontier AI models. Regionally, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has embedded quantum readiness into its Fintech 2030 strategy, launching a Quantum Preparedness Index and whitepaper to benchmark banks’ transition to post-quantum cryptography and signalling an ambition to achieve full sectoral quantum-ready status by 2030.

Within this pilot, participating institutions will test a shared application environment that enables quantum-resistant MPC signing under consistent conditions, while regulators take part in an observer role during the first phase and contribute to a governance workstream in the next stage. The proof of concept also envisages publication of a whitepaper covering the research, protocol design and testing findings so that the wider market can assess and build on the results, reinforcing the sector’s collective learning and preparedness. Furthermore, the underlying protocol technology will eventually be open-sourced to maximize transparency, encourage independent security auditing, and promote accountable, industry-wide standards.