NEAR Protocol has introduced quantum-resistant signing for user accounts, enabling holders to strengthen account security without transferring their assets or creating new accounts. The capability shipped with the network's nearcore 2.13 upgrade in July and is set out in technical proposal NEP-645.

Co-founder Illia Polosukhin said account holders can reinforce their security simply by changing the access keys that control their accounts. The change is voluntary: existing keys and wallets continue to work, and an account gains the added protection only once its owner adds and actively uses a quantum-resistant key.

Post-Quantum Keys at the Account Level

The 2.13 upgrade supports ML-DSA-65, a digital signing scheme designed to resist attacks from future quantum computers. ML-DSA-65 is one of the parameter sets in FIPS 204, the lattice-based digital signature standard the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology finalized in 2024, and it is among the algorithms organizations reference when planning post-quantum migrations. According to the technical proposal NEP-645, users can add the new key to an existing account and use it to sign transactions.

The significance is grounded in what current schemes cannot guarantee: the digital signatures major blockchains rely on draw their security from mathematical problems that a sufficiently powerful quantum computer could solve, and public keys are recorded on-chain. An account-level post-quantum option addresses that gap for individual holders without waiting on broader network changes.

The mechanism works because NEAR account IDs remain separate from the cryptographic keys that control them. Users can therefore rotate access keys without creating another account or transferring their holdings. By comparison, Bitcoin and Ethereum addresses are tied to keypairs derived through their existing cryptographic systems, and switching those systems can require users to move assets to different addresses.

Voluntary Adoption Leaves Parts of the Network Unprotected

Because adoption is optional, protection applies only at the account level. If an older key remains active, that access route retains its existing security limitations. Additionally, the upgrade does not make the entire network quantum-resistant: validator keys still rely on existing cryptography, according to the supplied information.

Polosukhin's statement therefore concerns account-level protection through key updates, rather than complete network-wide protection. The distinction matters because users must change their account access for the new signing method to provide any benefit.

Analyst Reaction and Other Features of the 2.13 Upgrade

In a post on X, analyst Michael van de Poppe said NEAR was already responding to the risks posed by quantum computing. He described the development pace positively and said he did not think investors should be bearish.

The July 2.13 upgrade also introduced dynamic resharding, which allows the network to split shards automatically when they reach defined state-size thresholds. Previously, adding shards required protocol upgrades and coordination among validators.

According to Polosukhin, NEAR designed its account model with future quantum safety in mind. The network is also working with hardware and software wallet developers, including Ledger, to bring post-quantum support to users. Those integrations are what would extend the option beyond developers working through command-line tools.

Developers can rotate account keys to ML-DSA-65 using the NEAR CLI. For now, the feature provides an account-level option while validator keys and older access methods remain unchanged. Because protection attaches only where account owners adopt it, wallet availability and key-rotation activity are the practical signals to follow as the ecosystem takes up the change.