NEAR Protocol's testnet validator vote for protocol version 85 opened June 30, with the upgrade adding ML-DSA-65 post-quantum signing as a native key type. That places NEAR among the first major layer-1 blockchains to add a NIST-standardized post-quantum signature scheme at the protocol level.
The v2.13.0 release candidate, posted to testnet June 23, pairs the cryptographic change with automatic dynamic resharding. Shards now split at epoch boundaries when state size crosses a threshold, removing the governance votes and weeks of validator coordination that previous shard additions required.
ML-DSA-65 gives NEAR a post-quantum key path
ML-DSA-65, NIST designation FIPS-204, standardized August 2024, is a lattice-based algorithm included in the agency's first post-quantum cryptography batch. It joins ed25519 and secp256k1 as a third transaction-signing option. Existing users do not have to migrate unless they choose to.
NEAR's account model keeps rotation simple: one transaction can move an account's keys to ML-DSA-65 without changing the address. To limit on-chain state growth, the implementation stores public keys as SHA3-256 hashes rather than the full 1,952-byte ML-DSA representations.
"We're proactively releasing the first quantum-safe signing scheme this spring, the first of many," co-founder Illia Polosukhin said May 5.
The reason to move before quantum hardware is commercially available is that "harvest now, decrypt later" attacks let adversaries capture encrypted traffic today and decrypt it once capable machines exist. NEAR CTO Anton Pieyev has described a mature quantum computer as one that could "make it impossible to confirm whether a transaction request genuinely comes from the asset holder."
Dynamic resharding targets higher throughput
NEAR runs nine shards today. The v2.13 mechanism is designed to scale beyond 70, a level the team projects would push throughput past Visa-level capacity.
Dynamic resharding is the throughput piece of the upgrade. The post-quantum key type is the security change: it gives accounts a native path away from signing schemes that may become vulnerable once quantum hardware matures.
Mainnet timing remains unset
The testnet upgrade activates when more than two-thirds of stake-weighted validators signal support by running the new software. The release notes put the activation window at 7 to 14 hours after the voting epoch closes.
The final participation count and outcome were not confirmed before publication; gov.near.org is the primary source for results. Mainnet deployment follows security audits and ecosystem coordination. No fixed date has been set.
NEAR's token fell 8.5% on June 26 after reports of an OpenAI IPO delay weighed on AI-adjacent tokens, an unrelated catalyst. Any price reaction to the June 30 vote opening was not confirmed from primary sources by deadline.