BTQ’s Quantum-Safe Stablecoin Tech Gains Global Standards Backing

The SEC recently warned that quantum computers pose an “existential threat” to financial security, Canadian company BTQ Technologies is making headlines of its own. Its Quantum Secure Stablecoin Network (QSSN) has been singled out as a model for protecting digital money — and BTQ says it is now on the fast track to becoming a global standard.

From Concept to Implementation

BTQ announced that a proposal submitted to the SEC, Post-Quantum Financial Infrastructure Framework (PQFIF), highlighted QSSN as an example of how banks and stablecoin issuers could defend themselves against future quantum hacks. That means BTQ’s idea of adding quantum-proof locks on the most sensitive functions of digital money — such as minting or freezing tokens — has moved from theory into the regulators’ playbook.

As CEO Olivier François Roussy Newton stated in a press release, “PQFIF’s recognition of QSSN is a watershed moment: it validates our strategy, positions us as the go-to partner as banks and fintechs pilot quantum-secure tokenized deposits, and accelerates our commercial pipeline.”

Standards Momentum

In parallel, the Quantum Industrial Standard Association (QuINSA) — a consortium including companies like Nokia, Samsung SDI, and SK Telecom — unanimously approved QSSN as a global standards initiative. BTQ is a founding member of QuINSA. That decision puts BTQ’s technology on the path to be recognized by heavyweight bodies such as the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), ISO, ETSI, and IEEE.

BTQ says, If successful, this would cement QSSN as a common rulebook for quantum-secure digital money, aligned with U.S. NIST post-quantum standards, Korea’s Quantum Technology Industry Act, and new European initiatives.

Why It Matters

The stablecoin market has surged past $280 billion in circulation, with nearly $6 trillion in transactions last year. Yet the cryptography underpinning these tokens is vulnerable to quantum attacks.

BTQ believes QSSN offers a way forward by requiring issuers to co-sign critical actions with both today’s keys and new post-quantum signatures. The result: institutions get quantum security without forcing everyday users to change how they transact.

Pilots with major issuers are planned for late 2025, and BTQ says its platform could eventually handle billions in daily settlement value.

The Race to Security

While BTQ is a notable player in the quantum-secure financial space, other companies are also racing to solve this critical problem, each with a slightly different approach. SandboxAQ, a spin-off from Google's parent company Alphabet, focuses on a software-based approach, providing crypto-agile platforms to help institutions and other large enterprises transition their entire cryptographic infrastructure.

Meanwhile, PQShield is deeply involved in both the hardware and software side, creating solutions that can be embedded directly into chips and devices, a crucial layer of security for physical payment terminals and mobile phones. Other key players include QuSecure, which offers a "QuProtect" platform designed for rapid deployment and orchestration of post-quantum cryptography within existing networks, and ID Quantique, which specializes in foundational technologies like quantum key distribution (QKD) and true random number generators.

The Bigger Picture

The proposal to the SEC warned that without urgent upgrades, quantum computers could crack open everything from Bitcoin wallets to interbank payment rails. Newton has echoed that urgency, warning that “people are going to be in for kind of a day of reckoning” if the industry ignores the threat. With this new recognition, BTQ has positioned itself at the center of the global push to secure the future of digital money.