Sui (SUI) is integrating two post-quantum signature schemes approved by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), enabling users to optionally adopt quantum-safe keys derived from existing recovery phrases.
According to its latest announcement, the blockchain network will add ML-DSA-65 as a native protocol signature scheme for everyday accounts and the hash-based SLH-DSA-SHA2-128s inside Move smart contracts for high-value vaults.
The effort comes amid the growing threat of quantum computing to the security of onchain keys. “In most systems, an attacker needs a breach before they can start working on a key," Sui said.
"Onchain, the key is already published, exposed permanently the moment an account transacts.” Sui argued that a sufficiently capable quantum computer running Shor's algorithm could eventually break the elliptic-curve cryptography securing most onchain accounts, and that a "harvest-now-forge-later" attack does not require quantum hardware because attackers can collect exposed public keys today and exploit them once such machines become available.
"Sui was built for cryptographic agility, which means signature schemes can be added without disturbing the fundamentals of the network," the team said.
