NEAR Protocol Adds ML-DSA Support as NEP-655 Advances on Testnet

NEAR Protocol has added support for the post-quantum ML-DSA signature algorithm while advancing NEP-655, a feature intended to reduce public-key exposure and protect account security as quantum computing develops.

Users will not need to move their assets. NEP-655 is already live on testnet, with deployment to mainnet expected in the coming weeks.

The Near One team is developing NEP-655 to create implicit accounts from hashes of their initial state. This approach is designed to avoid exposing public keys or public-key hashes on-chain.

The development also extends to NEAR Intents wallet contracts. Near One is designing a scalable signature mechanism that supports ML-DSA alongside hash-based signature schemes.

A separate Q-day recovery registration mechanism is being developed for blockchains that do not yet support post-quantum keys. It would let users pre-commit recovery keys through hashes that can be rotated over time.