- 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.
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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.
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