Proposal: Quanton (Post-Quantum Cryptography on Canton)
Introduce Development Fund proposal “Quanton” to bring native post-quantum signature verification to Canton.
This proposal implements support for NIST-standardized post-quantum signature schemes, ML-DSA, SLH-DSA, and FN-DSA, directly within Canton’s execution environment. It enables secure transaction authentication against quantum-capable adversaries while preserving existing account models and Daml authorization flows.
Quanton strengthens Canton’s long-term security and regulatory readiness, positioning it as one of the first institutional-grade networks with native post-quantum verification and establishing the foundation for seamless key migration without address changes.
Development Fund Proposal Submission
Proposal file:
/proposals/proposal.md
Summary
Quanton introduces native verification of NIST-standardized post-quantum signature schemes in Canton, protecting transaction authentication from quantum attacks. The proposal delivers production-ready verification libraries, benchmarking, and Daml integration, while laying the groundwork for seamless migration from existing signature schemes without disrupting user accounts.
Checklist
- Proposal file added under
/proposals/ - Milestones and funding amounts defined
- Acceptance criteria included
- Alignment with Canton priorities described
Notes for Reviewers
- This proposal focuses strictly on verification, avoiding changes to signing infrastructure (HSM/KMS), minimizing integration risk.
- ML-DSA is prioritized as the baseline deployment, with SLH-DSA and FN-DSA providing security diversity and compact alternatives.
- Benchmarks are designed around Canton’s transaction model to ensure practical deployability, not just theoretical performance.
- The work directly enables a follow-up milestone: key migration without address changes, already backed by accepted research (FC 2026).
- Given accelerating PQ timelines (NIST standardization, regulatory pressure, improved quantum resource estimates), this is a time-sensitive security upgrade, not exploratory R&D.