MLabs: Post-quantum signature verification support
MLabs LTD
ID: 69fb5faab05ff80adc7d5c46
The cryptographic signatures Cardano scripts and dApps rely on today — Ed25519, ECDSA, and Schnorr — will all become breakable when sufficiently capable quantum computers arrive. The migration timeline isn't urgent yet, but it is finite, and "harvest now, decrypt later" is already a real concern for long-lived assets and high-value scripts. NIST has standardized the first generation of post-quantum signature schemes (ML-DSA, SLH-DSA, Falcon). Multiple chains — Algorand among them — already support post-quantum signatures natively. Cardano scripts cannot currently use any of them. This proposal closes that gap. We will: 1. **Research and compare** the available post-quantum signature schemes against Cardano's specific constraints, and publish a public report recommending one for implementation along with the reasoning and alternatives considered. 2. **Author and shepherd a CIP** describing a UPLC builtin for verifying signatures from the recommended scheme. 3. **Implement the scheme** in cardano-base and the corresponding builtin in Plutus Core. 4. **Provide language wrappers** in Plinth, Plutarch, and Aiken so the new capability is immediately usable from Cardano's three main smart contract languages. 5. **Build a proof-of-concept smart contract wallet** using post-quantum signatures, demonstrating the new capability end-to-end. This proposal addresses **CPS-0027 ("Approaches to Post-Quantum Signatures")** — a Cardano Problem Statement currently in final review for merge, **authored by an MLabs Tech Lead.** No other team is positioned to deliver this work: MLabs is the only organization outside IOG to have implemented and shipped Plutus Core primitive operations (secp256k1/ECDSA and bit-level manipulation) to mainnet.
Scorecard
How this score works
Each criterion is worth between 1 and 4 points. The score is the points earned out of the points on criteria that have been answered — shown as a percentage. Green is 75% or higher, Amber is 50–74%, and Red is below 50%.
Some criteria are checked automatically against the proposal data (open source, doxxed team, treasury return clauses, etc.). Others are human-judgment calls — value for money, public good, whether the deliverables are realistic. Those stay blank until a DRep ticks them.
Criteria can also be marked Not applicablewhen they don't fit the proposal — for example, "open source" doesn't apply to a DAO governance proposal with no software output. Those are excluded from the score entirely, neither helping nor hurting.
Green requires 80% coverage. If less than 80% of the applicable criteria (by points) have been answered, the verdict stays at Amber — "pending review" — even when every answered criterion passes. This proposal's coverage is currently 68% (13 of 19 applicable criteria answered).
Vote intent
Export & audit
↓ Download scorecard.mdRaw payload · Treasury (false) / Admin (intersect)
{
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"schema_version": "1.2.0",
"proposal_id": "69fb5faab05ff80adc7d5c46",
"proposal_title": "MLabs: Post-quantum signature verification support",
"proposer": "MLabs LTD",
"filename": "hydra-mlabs-post-quantum-signatures.json",
"processed_date": "2026-05-11",
"title": "MLabs: Post-quantum signature verification support"
},
"ask": {
"ada_amount": 4005516,
"usd_amount": 720993,
"ada_usd_rate_assumed": 0.18,
"usd_peg_vs_market": "conservative",
"duration_months": 8,
"milestone_payments_disclosed": true,
"milestone_schedule_disclosed": "amounts_only",
"milestone_notes": "5 milestones (4-8 weeks each) with explicit research report, CIP, PR merge, and proof-of-concept wallet deliverables. Eryx (cryptography specialist) audits each milestone. Single line-item engineering hours. Comment from perturbing flags that the viability risk assessment should be in milestone 1 rather than milestone 3."
},
"identity": {
"doxxed": true,
"doxxed_notes": "MLabs LTD; Koz Ross (MLabs Tech Lead) authored CPS-0027 which this proposal addresses."
},
"metadata": {
"open_source": "yes",
"has_prior_delivery": true,
"prior_delivery_notes": "MLabs is sole organization outside IOG to ship Plutus Core primitive operations to mainnet (secp256k1/ECDSA and bit-level manipulation). CPS-0027 authored by MLabs Tech Lead and in final review for merge. 44 Catalyst proposals delivered; YTxP framework (Fund 12) used in M5.",
"admin_model": "intersect",
"admin_notes": "Intersect administers with 3% fee (116,666 ADA); each milestone independently audited by Eryx (cryptography specialist) before payment release.",
"duplicate_of_existing_solution": {
"value": "no",
"confidence": "high",
"set_by": "ai"
}
},
"treasury_return": {
"has_return_clause": false,
"treasury_favourability": "weak",
"return_notes": "Proposer answered 'No' on returning unused funds to Treasury."
},
"relationships": {
"competes_with": []
},
"ecosystem_demand": {
"evidence_level": "weak",
"evidence_level_confidence": "medium",
"evidence_level_set_by": "ai",
"active_users_known": false,
"active_users_examples": [],
"developer_demand_signals": [
"Post-quantum readiness explicitly named as a focus area in Cardano 2030 Pillar 1",
"CPS-0027 (Cardano Problem Statement) is in final review for merge — formalizes the problem",
"NIST standardized post-quantum signatures (ML-DSA, SLH-DSA, Falcon) in 2024",
"Algorand and other chains already support post-quantum signatures natively",
"'Harvest now, decrypt later' framing — though comment from perturbing DRep correctly notes this doesn't apply to public blockchain signatures (asymmetric signature schemes vs encryption)"
],
"adoption_risk_notes": "Post-quantum readiness is explicitly named as a 2030 KPI focus area, which is genuine demand signal. However, no named Cardano dApp, RWA project, or institutional integrator is committed to using post-quantum signatures. Post-quantum signatures are significantly larger (~666-2420 bytes vs Ed25519's 64 bytes) and more compute-expensive — comment from perturbing DRep flags the legitimate concern that this may not fit in Plutus script budgets and that viability assessment should be in M1 not M3/M5. At 4M+ ADA / $720K USD, this is one of the larger requests in the batch. The proposer acknowledges performance honestly. Demand is structural/future-facing rather than tied to committed integrators."
},
"incumbents": {
"has_existing_solution": "no",
"has_existing_solution_confidence": "high",
"has_existing_solution_set_by": "ai",
"existing_solutions": [],
"differentiation_claim": "MLabs is sole organization outside IOG to ship Plutus Core primitives to mainnet; CPS-27 authored by MLabs Tech Lead; multi-language coverage (Plinth, Plutarch, Aiken wrappers); end-to-end proof-of-concept wallet on YTxP.",
"differentiation_credibility": "high"
},
"risk_flags": {
"aggressive_peg": false,
"self_administered_no_oversight": false,
"incumbent_already_delivering": false,
"no_evidence_of_demand": true,
"competes_with_in_batch": false,
"concentration_risk": false
},
"id": "hydra-mlabs-post-quantum-signatures",
"source": {
"hydra_id": "69fb5faab05ff80adc7d5c46",
"channels": [
"hydra"
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}