The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has announced the selection of nine digital signature algorithms to advance to the third round of the post-quantum cryptography (PQC) standardization process.
According to internal report IR 8610 issued by the agency on May 14, 2026, the selected candidates are FAEST, HAWK, MAYO, MQOM, QR-UOV, SDitH, SNOVA, SQIsign, and UOV.
NIST is a U.S. Department of Commerce agency responsible for setting technology and security standards at the federal level. The PQC standardization process, launched in 2016, defines cryptographic protocols for use by governments, businesses, and critical infrastructure operators. Should be adopted in the face of advances in quantum computing.
The nine finalists will have the opportunity to present updated specifications and implementations during this new phase, which is estimated to last approximately two years, according to the organization. NIST also reports: The 7th PQC meeting will be held in spring or summer 2027in the Gaithersburg, Maryland area.
Selection will be made after an 18-month technical evaluation. The process requires Identifying signature schemes that can resist quantum computer attacks This can potentially compromise the traditional encryption algorithms used. This includes ECDSA, which uses Bitcoin.
But these standards are not a direct solution for Bitcoin
While the NIST selection is a milestone for global digital security, its application on networks such as Bitcoin faces certain technical limitations. This is because it is a digital signature generated by SLH-DSA (Stateless hash-based digital signature algorithm).
As CriptoNoticias pointed out, Blockstream co-founder Adam Back himself recognized that this type of digital signature is larger than current digital signatures. Space occupied on the blockchain may increase As a result, you will incur transaction fees.
Technical data shows the magnitude of the problem: Companies under the SLH-DSA 7,856 bytes, 82x the Ed25519 signaturea scheme used as a reference in multiple networks.
Even FALCON, the most compact alternative among already approved standards, produces a 666-byte signature compared to grid-based algorithms such as: dilithiumgenerates a 2,420-byte signature.
In Bitcoin, each byte of a transaction has a direct cost: fees and block space. These dimensions represent operational barriers None of the nine new candidates can solve the problem on their own.
The research community is investigating more compact variants for more restrictive environments. In its third round report, NIST highlighted that FN-DSA (formerly FALCON) has the most compact signature and public key of the post-quantum candidates it evaluated.
However, implementing it safely on commodity hardware has the following issues:Technical complexity limits immediate deployment.
Although the NIST process is moving toward standardization, a gap remains between post-quantum security requirements and operational limits for networks such as Bitcoin.
A third round of evaluation, scheduled to last two years, will determine whether any of the nine candidates can balance quantum resistance with sufficient efficiency in an environment where each signature weight has a measurable cost.
However, while this represents an important advance for global cybersecurity, these algorithms Still facing major size and efficiency challenges Suitable for implementation in networks such as Bitcoin. The third round of NIST will define whether post-quantum cryptography can secure blockchains without compromising scalability.
(Tag Translate)Bitcoin (BTC)
