Banks and regulators from Europe, the Middle East, and Asia have joined a pilot testing post-quantum crypto transfers led by RFI and Safeheron.
According to the announcement, the initiative was announced by the Responsible Fintech Institute (RFI) and crypto custody infrastructure provider Safeheron.
The pilot is built on a multiparty computation protocol supporting ML-DSA-65, a post-quantum digital signature standard published by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology. The protocol is being tested on a quantum-resistant NEAR testnet, with participating banks generating wallets and executing transfers within a shared application environment.
Multiparty computation splits private key material across several parties, removing the need for a single point of custody. Combining this approach with a NIST-approved post-quantum signature standard is intended to test how existing custody models could be adapted ahead of any transition away from current public-key cryptography, which quantum computers are expected to eventually be able to break.
Regulatory involvement and governance
According to RFI, participating regulators include the Abu Dhabi Global Market, Bhutan's Gelephu Financial Services Office, and Malta's Financial Services Authority, while Bison Bank and DK Bank are taking part as financial institutions. Participation levels differ between institutions: banks are directly testing wallet generation and transfer functionality during the initial phase, while regulators are observing this stage and are expected to contribute to a governance workstream at a later point.
In addition, the organisers have said they plan to publish a white paper covering the research, protocol design, and test findings from the pilot, and intend to eventually open-source the underlying technology. This would allow other institutions and infrastructure providers to review or build on the protocol outside the initial group of participants.
Wider industry push toward quantum resistance
The pilot forms part of a broader movement among financial authorities to prepare for the eventual arrival of quantum computers capable of undermining current cryptographic standards. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority has set a target for Hong Kong's banking sector to be fully prepared for quantum-related security risks by 2030. Separately, a 2025 paper published by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) called for financial institutions to begin coordinated, phased migrations to post-quantum systems.
Together, these developments point to a gradual shift among banks, custody providers and regulators toward evaluating post-quantum infrastructure well ahead of any confirmed timeline for quantum computers reaching cryptographically relevant capability. At the same time, pilots such as this one are intended to generate practical data on how custody, signature and settlement processes could be adapted, rather than to bring post-quantum systems into production use immediately.
