NEAR Introduces Quantum-Resistant Signatures in Mainnet Upgrade 2.13

NEAR Protocol has introduced a quantum-resistant signature system with the Mainnet 2.13 upgrade. The implementation targets transaction signatures and access key layers, although the entire network has not yet transitioned to a post-quantum structure. The upgrade includes the ML-DSA signature system based on FIPS 204, approved by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), along with dynamic sharding. NEAR can manage multiple access keys through its account structure and has adopted a design that minimizes address transfer issues when changing keys. The ML-DSA-65 public key is 1952 bytes, stored on-chain as a 32-byte SHA3-256 hash. An additional charge of 100 Ggas is applied during signature verification. FIPS 204 is the final digital signature standard published on August 13, 2024, forming the foundational layer for transaction approval and account control on the blockchain. NEAR explains that post-quantum support is limited to transaction signatures and access keys, while validator keys and block generation still use ed25519. Additionally, work is underway with hardware and software wallet builders to support post-quantum features. Following the upgrade, the price of NEAR has risen by approximately 3.4%, although price fluctuations may be influenced by other factors. Industry opinions have suggested the need for differentiation between technology application and actual migration.

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