Create an ML-DSA account

Create a post-quantum user account with the keyring and move funds into it; there is no in-place migration for accounts.

This guide creates a user account backed by ml_dsa_65, the post-quantum signature algorithm, and moves funds into it. Accounts do not rotate. An existing account keeps its key for life, so moving to post-quantum means a new account and a transfer. For what ML-DSA is and when account migration matters, see Post-quantum keys.

Commands use simd. Substitute your chain’s binary and adjust key names and denoms.

Know the limits first

• CLI only. Wallet support for ML-DSA accounts is minimal; expect to manage the account with the chain CLI.
• No hardware wallets. Ledger devices sign with secp256k1 only. Recovery works from the mnemonic alone.
• No EVM. EVM transactions require eth_secp256k1 account keys, so ML-DSA accounts do not work with the EVM. See the EVM section of Post-quantum keys.

Prerequisites

• The chain runs Cosmos SDK 0.55 or later.
• A running chain to send transactions to, with its CLI binary on your PATH and a funded account in the keyring. To stand up a local chain first, see Run a node.

1. Create the account

Generate the account with the keyring and select the ML-DSA algorithm:

simd keys add pq-account --key-type ml_dsa_65

The output shows the new address and a mnemonic. Store the mnemonic securely. No hardware wallet can hold this key, so the mnemonic is the only recovery path. To recover the account later:

simd keys add pq-account --recover --key-type ml_dsa_65

2. Move funds in

There is no in-place migration for accounts by design. Send funds from the old account with an ordinary transfer:

simd tx bank send old-account "$(simd keys show pq-account -a)" 1000000stake --from old-account

Both transfers here are ordinary transactions. They read the signing key and chain ID from your client config; add --chain-id, --keyring-backend, and --home if that config does not supply them, and set --fees (or --gas-prices) to meet the chain’s minimum gas price.

3. Verify the account signs

Confirm the balance arrived:

simd query bank balances "$(simd keys show pq-account -a)"

Then prove the new key works by sending from it:

simd tx bank send pq-account "$(simd keys show old-account -a)" 1stake --from pq-account --gas auto --gas-adjustment 1.5

You may need to raise the gas limit for this transfer. The account’s first transaction writes its public key to state, and an ML-DSA public key is large enough that the default limit of 200000 runs out of gas. --gas auto sizes the limit to fit. Later transactions from the account are smaller and fit within the default.

A successful send from pq-account means the chain accepted an ML-DSA signature for the account. Drain and retire the old account safterwards.

Next steps

• Understand what post-quantum protection the account now has. See Post-quantum keys.
• Validators migrate differently, by key rotation. See Migrate a validator to ML-DSA.