Two banks, three regulators, one 2-of-2 key: what the NEAR post-quantum pilot actually tests
The Responsible Fintech Institute has put NIST-standardized signing in front of supervisors from Abu Dhabi, Bhutan and Malta. The code that would let anyone check the work comes later.
The Investor · Invest desk
What happened
- RFI launched a pilot on August 24, 2026 that generates post-quantum wallets and executes onchain transfers on the NEAR testnet.
- Bison Bank and DK Bank are the participating financial institutions, testing wallet generation and transfers in a shared application environment.
- Three supervisors are attached: Abu Dhabi Global Market, Bhutan's Gelephu Financial Services Office and the Malta Financial Services Authority.
- Signing runs on non-custodial multi-party computation built on NIST's FIPS 204 ML-DSA-65 signature standard, supplied by custody firm Safeheron.
- Organizers plan a white paper on protocol design and test findings, with the underlying technology open-sourced at some later point.
Why it matters
- What it limits constraint With two shares and both required, there is no redundancy to lose: either party going dark stops signing, and a testnet with no assets at risk will not price that outage.
- What doesn't add up contradiction One report has the regulators shaping governance now, the other has them watching phase one and joining later on uneven terms; the second version buys banks far less supervisory cover.
- Who has to decide decision Because the code lands after the write-up, any institution weighing this stack has to decide on the participants' own documentation rather than an independent review.
- What it sets up precedent Observe-first, govern-later gives supervisors elsewhere a reusable format for showing progress against quantum-readiness deadlines without approving anything.
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A 2-of-2 threshold has no spare capacity. Both parties hold a share, both must cooperate to sign, and neither ever possesses the full private key [13], which means the number of shares that can go missing before signing stops is zero [23]. Neither published account identifies who holds the second share alongside the bank [18]. For a custody operator that matters more than the algorithm choice, because the practical failure mode of a quantum-safe wallet in production tends to be a counterparty that cannot co-sign rather than a broken curve. A testnet where no real assets are exposed [19] is a sensible place to confirm that wallet generation and transfers validate [14]. It is not where availability under stress gets priced.
The two reports agree on the calendar and diverge on the substance. Cointelegraph dates the announcement to a Monday [12], and August 24, 2026 was a Monday [17]. But Crypto Briefing describes the supervisors as participating in governance discussions to align outcomes with existing regulatory frameworks [8], while Cointelegraph has them observing the first phase and contributing to a governance workstream later, with participation levels differing between institutions [9]. Those are different products. One is co-designed supervision; the other is three agencies watching a vendor demo with an option to engage. Until the whitepaper lands [10], the narrower reading is the safer one.
The audit sequencing points the same way. Safeheron, the custody technology firm supplying the cryptographic backbone [4], co-announced the pilot with RFI [4], and the underlying protocols are to be open-sourced eventually rather than at launch [10]. So the first artifact anyone outside the pilot can inspect is a document written by the participants, not code. ML-DSA-65 itself is the least contestable part of the stack, having been standardized by NIST in FIPS 204 at the medium security level of that family [6]. The integration around it is the part that needs eyes.
Worth noting that the stated urgency and the chosen tool are not the same problem. Harvest now, decrypt later describes intercepting ciphertext today and decrypting it once machines are strong enough [20]. A digital signature standard [5] does not address that; what it addresses on a public chain is Shor's algorithm recovering keys from the elliptic-curve cryptography securing most wallets today [7].
The clock explains the timing better than the threat narrative does. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority wants its banking sector fully prepared for quantum-related security risks by 2030 [15], which is about 41 months from this pilot's launch [22]. A 2025 BIS paper told institutions to start coordinated, phased migrations [16], and MAS with the Association of Banks in Singapore folded quantum threats into a cyber taskforce [21]. Supervisors need something to point at when they ask banks what phase one looked like. Two banks on a testnet is now that thing.
What to watch
- Whether the promised open-source release arrives with the white paper or well after it, which decides when anyone outside the pilot can audit the integration.
- Whether ADGM, the GFSO or the MFSA formally joins the governance workstream, and whether any of them cites the pilot in supervisory guidance.
- Whether banks beyond Bison Bank and DK Bank sign up for a second phase, particularly institutions facing the HKMA's 2030 readiness target.
Information, not investment advice. This story is general information about companies and markets, drawn from cited reporting. It is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security; check the cited sources before acting.
Clarity's read
What the record supports and how the coverage leans. The claims behind it follow.
Reality
- Evidence45
- Adoption12
- Hype gap+30
- Incentives55
- Confidence62
Claim ledger
Ranked by verification strength, evidence, and original report placement.
- [1]
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.
- [2]
Regulators from Abu Dhabi, Bhutan and Malta are sitting in as governance observers, making this one of the first structured efforts to put financial supervisors and quantum-safe crypto infrastructure in the same room.
- [3]
The participating regulators are the Abu Dhabi Global Market, Bhutan's Gelephu Financial Services Office and the Malta Financial Services Authority.
- [4]
RFI and crypto custody infrastructure provider Safeheron announced the initiative together; Safeheron is providing the cryptographic backbone.
- [5]
The pilot uses multi-party computation signing built on the NIST FIPS 204 ML-DSA-65 post-quantum digital signature standard.
- [6]
ML-DSA-65 was standardized by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology in FIPS 204 after years of candidate evaluation, and sits at the medium security level of that family.
- [7]
ML-DSA-65 is designed to resist Shor's algorithm, the quantum procedure that would break the elliptic-curve cryptography securing most blockchain wallets today.
- [8]
The regulators' role is not to rubber-stamp outcomes but to participate in governance discussions, helping align whatever emerges with existing regulatory frameworks.
- [9]
Regulators will observe the first phase and contribute to a governance workstream later, with participation levels differing between institutions.
- [10]
The organizers plan to publish a white paper covering the research, protocol design and test findings, and to eventually open-source the underlying technology.
- [11]
Bison Bank and DK Bank are participating as the financial institutions.
- [12]
Cointelegraph reported that RFI and Safeheron announced the initiative on Monday.
- [13]
The architecture is a non-custodial 2-of-2 MPC design: two separate parties each hold a share of the private key, both must cooperate to sign, and neither party ever possesses the full key.
- [14]
The banks will test wallet generation and transfers in a shared application environment.
- [15]
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority aims to make Hong Kong's banking sector fully prepared for quantum-related security risks by 2030.
- [16]
A 2025 BIS paper urged financial institutions to begin coordinated, phased migrations to post-quantum systems.
- [17]
August 24, 2026 falls on a Monday, so the launch date reported by Crypto Briefing is consistent with Cointelegraph's day-of-week reference.
- [18]
Neither published account identifies which party holds the second key share alongside the participating bank.
- [19]
Running on NEAR's quantum-resistant testnet lets the pilot simulate real onchain conditions without risking actual assets.
- [20]
The threat model cited is harvest now, decrypt later: adversaries intercept and store encrypted data today, then decrypt it once quantum machines are powerful enough, so today's onchain records could become tomorrow's vulnerabilities.
- [21]
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.
- [22]
Roughly 41 months separate the pilot's August 24, 2026 launch from the start of 2030, the year by which the HKMA wants Hong Kong's banks quantum-ready.
- [23]
A 2-of-2 threshold leaves zero redundant shares: signatures required minus shares held equals no spare, so unavailability of either share halts signing.
Sources
2 independent publishers whose own reporting we read for this story.
- cointelegraph.comBanks, regulators join quantum-resistant crypto transfer pilot
1 article · August 23, 2026
- cryptobriefing.comBanks and regulators join quantum-resistant crypto transfer pilot on NEAR testnet
2 articles · August 24, 2026
Topics and entities
Topics
Entities
- Abu Dhabi Global Market
- Hong Kong Monetary Authority
- Monetary Authority of Singapore
- NEAR Protocol
- Association of Banks in Singapore
- National Institute of Standards and Technology
- Gelephu Financial Services Office
- Malta Financial Services Authority
- Bank for International Settlements
- Responsible Fintech Institute