€1M from Sovereign Tech Agency to Fuel Post-Quantum Readiness at Let's Encrypt
Sovereign Tech Agency is investing in the development of a Merkle Tree Certificate Authority at Let’s Encrypt through the end of 2027 with a contract totaling more than €1M. This is the largest single investment in post-quantum readiness at Let’s Encrypt to date. This investment will help pave the path for free post-quantum Merkle Tree Certificates for people globally.
Every time you open your bank, your tax portal, or your medical records, a certificate confirms you reached the website you typed in. Quantum computers put that confirmation at risk. Whether the web stays trustworthy shouldn't depend on who can afford to upgrade first. With ISRG, we invest in making post-quantum security the default for everyone, built on open standards and open source software.
Merkle Tree Certificates
Merkle Tree Certificates are a new approach that adds post-quantum authentication to the web without sacrificing the speed and reliability that have made TLS universal. Replacing today’s certificate signatures with post-quantum equivalents would push a single TLS handshake well past 10 kilobytes, slowing connections and causing some to fail; MTCs keep the handshake small by covering a whole batch of certificates with one signature.
This investment supports ISRG’s efforts to prepare Let’s Encrypt for the post-quantum era by researching, developing, and deploying post-quantum Merkle Tree Certificates across its Certificate Authority infrastructure. Through 2027, this initiative will help ISRG:
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Contribute to standardization of Merkle Tree Certificate Authorities at the IETF, the body that develops the Internet’s technical standards; in C2SP, a community project that publishes precise specifications for cryptographic protocols; and with root programs, the policies that decide which certificate authorities browsers and operating systems trust.
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Transition the Merkle Tree Certificate Authority from initial standardization and staging tests to a fully reliable, compliant production launch.
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Develop documentation, conduct outreach, and roll out Merkle Tree Certificates globally to subscribers.
We applaud the Sovereign Tech Agency and the German Federal Ministry for Digital Transformation and Government Modernisation for recognizing the connection between strong, well-supported digital infrastructure and innovation and economic growth.
With better and more secure tools people, companies, and institutions can focus more on the task at hand. We hope to see more public and private organizations who rely on open source critical digital infrastructure to step up and support it. If you or your organization would like to come on board as a funder of ISRG, we would be excited to begin a conversation with you at donate@abetterinternet.org.