Key Notes
- Sui targets native post-quantum account authentication on mainnet in the first quarter of 2027, subject to audits and testing.
- The latest developer release adds ML-DSA-65 signature support, while hash-based vaults follow a separate rollout planned for 2026.
- The optional account upgrade is designed to preserve recovery phrases and addresses, with no compulsory migration for existing users today.
Sui is targeting the first quarter of 2027 for quantum-resistant native account authentication on mainnet, following the addition of post-quantum signatures to its developer network. The timetable remains subject to independent audits and testnet feedback.
The latest technical step appears in Mysten Labs’ developer release, published on October 12. It adds support for ML-DSA-65 signatures, including multisignature members, and updates the Rust software-development kit. This is development-network support rather than a completed mainnet migration.
Sui’s rollout plan, first published in August, sets out separate stages: quantum-resistant vaults on mainnet during 2026, native ML-DSA-65 accounts on testnet by year-end, and native mainnet account authentication in early 2027. Wallet and developer-tool support are intended to accompany the account rollout.
What the developer release changes
The devnet release recognizes ML-DSA-65 as an additional account-signature type. Its release notes describe both submitting transactions carrying these signatures and verifying them, providing developers with a concrete implementation to test.
It also extends signature and public-key types exposed through developer interfaces. That work matters because a new cryptographic algorithm has to function across signing software, transaction submission and verification before ordinary wallets can reliably offer it.
The distinction between environments remains central. A feature available to developers for testing does not establish that existing mainnet accounts have changed their authorization rules, or that a final production audit has been completed.
Two signature families serve different roles
For everyday accounts, Sui has selected ML-DSA-65, a lattice-based digital signature scheme at NIST security category 3. ML-DSA is specified in FIPS 204, finalized in August 2024. NIST describes the algorithm as believed secure against attackers equipped with a large-scale quantum computer.
Digital signatures establish that the authorized signer approved a message and help detect changes to it. In a blockchain account, that makes signatures part of the system deciding whether a transaction may spend assets. A post-quantum signature replaces the mathematical basis of that authorization check; it does not itself encrypt the transaction.
High-value vaults follow a different route. Sui plans to support SLH-DSA-SHA2-128s through Move smart contracts. That belongs to the hash-based family standardized under FIPS 205, rather than relying on the same lattice assumptions as ML-DSA.
Mysten researchers Kostas Chalkias and Mahdi Sedaghat explained in their August design analysis that the separation limits dependence on one mathematical family. Implementing vault signatures in contracts also allows changes without introducing a new native protocol scheme each time.
The trade-off includes larger signatures and public keys. The researchers report ML-DSA-65 verification performance comparable to Ed25519 in their benchmarks, but those measurements come from a particular hardware configuration. They should not be treated as a guarantee for every wallet or as proof that a mainnet deployment is already complete.
Keeping addresses while changing authorization
Sui intends the account feature to be optional. Its proposed key-derivation path uses an existing recovery phrase, while address aliases provide a way to change which key authorizes an account without moving all of its assets to another address.
The alias documentation shows why that mechanism is consequential: an authorized alias can control the coins and other resources belonging to the address. Adding an alias grants signing authority; it is not merely assigning a display name. The documentation warns that changing the allowed signer set changes who can access the assets.
The wider transition also reaches beyond account signatures. Sui’s earlier security research discusses hashing, encryption, zkLogin and other cryptographic components separately. Progress on one authenticator should therefore be distinguished from a claim that every component of the network is already protected against quantum attacks.
CoinScreamer has covered Starknet’s L1 discussion and Vitalik Buterin’s migration warning, which highlight different approaches to cryptographic upgrades. For Sui, the next checkpoints are audits, testnet adoption and wallet integration. Q1 2027 remains the mainnet target for native accounts, with existing users facing no compulsory change today.
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