# NIST post-quantum cryptography standardization

> Live situation record from CLSTR: https://clstr.news/situations/nist-post-quantum-cryptography-standardization
> Updated: 2026-08-12T19:05:09.000Z. Sources: 2. Developments: 2.

The transition toward post-quantum cryptography (PQC) is accelerating as the U.S. government and technology industry move toward time-bound migration. This shift is motivated by the threat of “harvest now, decrypt later” attacks, where encrypted data is intercepted today to be decrypted by future quantum computers.

Following the standardization of initial algorithms such as CRYSTALS-KYBER, CRYSTALS-Dilithium, FALCON, and SPHINCS+, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has finalized the Stateless Hash-Based Digital Signature Algorithm (SLH-DSA) as FIPS 205. As a conservative, hash-function-based standard, SLH-DSA is positioned as a high-assurance backup for long-lived firmware and root-of-trust use cases, despite trade-offs involving larger signature sizes and slower signing speeds.

NIST has entered a new phase of evaluation, selecting nine new candidate digital signature algorithms for a third round of assessment. This effort aims to diversify the PQC portfolio beyond lattice-based schemes and address vulnerabilities potentially exposed by artificial intelligence. Major technology vendors, including Google, Microsoft, and Cloudflare, have established migration deadlines, with some targeting 2029. Industry efforts are also focusing on mitigating technical overhead, such as the IETF’s development of Merkle Tree Certificates to manage large PQC signature sizes in TLS handshakes.

## Timeline

### 2026-08-12: NIST advances post-quantum cryptography standards to counter quantum and AI threats

NIST has selected nine new candidate digital signature algorithms for post-quantum cryptography evaluation to diversify security standards and counter emerging threats from quantum computing and AI.

2 sources. https://clstr.news/cluster/nist-advances-post-quantum-cryptography-standards-to-counter-quantum-and-ai-threats

### 2026-07-15: NIST Publishes SLH‑DSA Post‑Quantum Signature Standard, Industry Ready

NIST released the hash‑based SLH‑DSA post‑quantum signature standard (FIPS 205) in August 2024, and firms like Akamai are gearing up to deploy PQC certificates by 2029, while the IETF works on size‑reduction in

2 sources. https://clstr.news/cluster/nist-publishes-slhdsa-postquantum-signature-standard-industry-ready

---
Cite as: NIST post-quantum cryptography standardization. CLSTR, https://clstr.news/situations/nist-post-quantum-cryptography-standardization