In August 2024, NIST completed an 8-year evaluation of 82 candidate algorithms and published the world's first post-quantum cryptography standards. These three standards define the algorithms that governments, enterprises, and — in BMIC's case — blockchain projects should use to protect against quantum computing attacks.
The three NIST PQC standards:
- FIPS 203 (ML-KEM / CRYSTALS-Kyber): Key encapsulation mechanism for secure key exchange. This is the standard BMIC uses for wallet encryption.
- FIPS 204 (ML-DSA / CRYSTALS-Dilithium): Digital signature algorithm for authenticating transactions and data.
- FIPS 205 (SLH-DSA / SPHINCS+): Hash-based digital signature as a backup standard with different security assumptions.
Why NIST standardization matters: NIST standards are adopted globally. The U.S. government mandates their use for classified communications. NATO, the EU, and major tech companies (Google, Apple, Signal) are all migrating to these exact algorithms. BMIC chose NIST-standardized algorithms specifically because they represent the highest level of peer-reviewed, government-validated cryptographic security available.