NIST finalizes post-quantum encryption standards (FIPS 203, 204, 205)

In August 2024 the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology finalized its first set of post-quantum cryptography standards, approved on 13 August 2024.

The three standards are FIPS 203 (ML-KEM, a key-encapsulation mechanism), FIPS 204 (ML-DSA, a lattice-based digital signature), and FIPS 205 (SLH-DSA, a hash-based signature). They are the product of a multi-year, public selection process intended to give software a vetted menu of algorithms believed to resist attack by quantum computers.

These are general-purpose cryptographic building blocks, not bitcoin-specific designs. They matter to this topic as context: any bitcoin proposal to adopt post-quantum signatures would likely reference or build on standardized schemes like these, while weighing their much larger signature sizes against bitcoin's tight block-space constraints.

Standardization and adoption are separate questions. The existence of these standards does not imply any particular timeline or design for bitcoin.