US Proposes Plan to Shield Assets from Quantum Threats

SEC unveils plan for quantum-resilient financial infrastructure.

The SEC has unveiled a concept for a Unified Tokenized Ledger (UTL). The project is detailed in a document proposing the creation of a financial infrastructure resilient to quantum threats (PQFIF).

The initiative is based on developments by the Bank for International Settlements and the Canton Network. Its primary aim is to prepare the financial sector for the era when quantum computers can breach current encryption algorithms.

The authors emphasized that the threat is relevant to the entire industry, including Bitcoin and Ethereum networks.

The UTL is founded on the tokenization of key financial instruments: central bank reserves, commercial bank deposits, and debt obligations. This will enable the creation of a unified programmable platform instead of existing fragmented systems.

The UTL architecture comprises three layers:

• sovereign (Layer 0) — managed by seven central banks, including the Federal Reserve and the ECB;
• interbank (Layer 1) — designed for commercial financial institutions;
• smart contract layer (Layer 2) — used for implementing financial logic.

The system’s declared throughput reaches 100,000 TPS with scalability potential. Cross-network settlement finalization takes less than 500 ms.

The system employs post-quantum cryptographic algorithms approved by the NIST. These include:

• ML-KEM (CRYSTALS-Kyber) for key encapsulation;
• ML-DSA (CRYSTALS-Dilithium) for digital signatures.

The transition to new standards is planned to be phased over seven years.

The system will be managed by a three-tier structure. Central banks will determine monetary policy, commercial banks will manage tokenized deposit operations, and consortia will be responsible for smart contracts.

The SEC will be able to perform oversight functions, set standards, and maintain the project’s legal framework.

The authors of the document stress that the UTL is a conceptual vision, not a ready-to-implement plan. Its goal is to demonstrate the possibilities opened by a financial system protected from quantum threats.

Earlier in August, El Salvador distributed its National Strategic Bitcoin Reserve across 14 new addresses due to potential quantum computing threats.