BitGo and Silence Labs Complete First Post-Quantum MPC Custody Simulation

The first regulated custodian to demonstrate a post-quantum MPC transaction simulation is now on record. What this means for institutional digital asset security before quantum threats arrive.

BitGo Holdings (NYSE: BTGO) and Singapore-based Silence Laboratories have completed what they describe as the first post-quantum multi-party computation (MPC) transaction simulation performed by a regulated digital asset custodian. The demonstration, announced May 26, 2026, marks a significant step toward quantum-safe institutional custody infrastructure.

The simulation used Silence Laboratories' PQ-MPC protocol, built on ML-DSA — the digital signature algorithm standardized by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in FIPS 204. It was integrated with BitGo's institutional custody and wallet platform, and demonstrated at a private industry event attended by researchers and security leaders from Google, Stanford, the Linux Foundation, and leading financial institutions.

Why Post-Quantum Custody Matters Now

Current institutional digital asset infrastructure relies on cryptographic signature schemes that were not designed to withstand attacks from quantum computers. While a cryptographically relevant quantum computer does not exist today, security planning horizons for financial institutions typically extend 5 to 10 years — placing the threat within active planning windows for the custody and settlement layer.

"Quantum computing has moved from theoretical discussion to an infrastructure planning priority for the digital asset industry," said Mike Belshe, CEO and co-founder of BitGo. "Institutions are asking how they can prepare without compromising security, control, or operational resilience."

The specific risk is to asymmetric cryptography: the elliptic curve and RSA-based key pairs that protect wallet signing today could theoretically be broken by a sufficiently capable quantum machine running Shor's algorithm. For digital asset custody, where private key compromise is irreversible and losses are permanent, this is not a theoretical concern — it is a migration problem that needs to be solved before the threat is operational.

What the Simulation Demonstrated

The transaction simulation demonstrated how post-quantum signing can be incorporated into an institutional wallet workflow while preserving the core operational benefits of MPC architecture: distributed key control, policy enforcement, and separation of duties between signers.

MPC-based custody allows multiple parties to jointly sign transactions without any single party holding the complete private key. This architecture is already the institutional security standard for regulated custodians. The BitGo-Silence collaboration shows it can be extended with quantum-resistant signature algorithms without abandoning MPC's control and governance model.

The ML-DSA algorithm at the core of the demonstration is a lattice-based signature scheme, meaning its security derives from mathematical problems that quantum computers cannot efficiently solve. It was formally standardized by NIST in August 2024 as part of the agency's post-quantum cryptography standardization effort.

"Digital assets are particularly at risk as much of the existing systems still rely on signature schemes that were not built to withstand quantum threats," said Jay Prakash, CEO and co-founder of Silence Laboratories. "With forward-thinking partners like BitGo, we are planning to bring this technology to market so that institutions can begin upgrading now, on their own timeline, rather than being forced into a rushed migration later."

Who Is Already Planning

BitGo's solution for banks is already powering digital asset strategies at institutions including Erebor Bank, Banco de Crédito del Perú, Banco de Crédito de Bolivia S.A., TowerBank, and InvestiFi. The post-quantum work builds on this institutional base — targeting the same regulated market participants who need to evaluate cryptographic agility, key management, and migration readiness before quantum-capable threats become operational.

The XRPL Foundation and Ripple separately partnered with Project Eleven in 2026 to assess quantum vulnerability on the XRP Ledger itself — addressing the blockchain network layer. BitGo's work addresses the custody and signing layer. Both tracks are needed for a complete institutional post-quantum migration.

For asset issuers and custodians building on public ledgers today, the practical implication is that quantum migration should be part of infrastructure vendor selection criteria now — not a retrofit problem to solve in 2030.

Next Steps

BitGo and Silence Laboratories plan to continue developing and testing the solution with select customers, financial institutions, and blockchain ecosystem participants. The focus areas include interoperability across blockchain networks, institutional policy controls and auditability, and deployment models compatible with regulated market participants as post-quantum standards continue to evolve.

The collaboration will also track NIST's ongoing post-quantum cryptography standards process as additional algorithms are finalized in coming years.