Introducing post-quantum keys for NymVPN

The encryption protecting most internet traffic today will eventually be broken. Not this year, and maybe not this decade. But when quantum computers reach sufficient scale, the mathematical assumptions holding up most encryption in use today will collapse. Anyone who has recorded your encrypted traffic beforehand can start decrypting it.

This is not a theoretical scenario of academic papers. It's an active threat model that well-resourced adversaries are already operating under. ^{1 2}

With NymVPN v2026.7, Nym is taking the first concrete step to defend against it. In the first stage of Nym’s post-quantum security roadmap, post-quantum key exchange is now live for testing across all platforms on the Fast mode via the Lewes Protocol, a novel protocol developed by Nym that makes Nym’s privacy protections general purpose even beyond NymVPN.

Note: The Lewes Protocol feature is currently optional and must be toggled on. Following a short period in production, it will become the default key exchange protocol.

Here's what that means, why the timing matters, and where we're headed next.

Post-quantum keys on NymVPN

Nym’s new post-quantum key exchange is part of a novel protocol we call the Lewes Protocol. It is named after the English town Lewes where Nym core devs met to set out the vision to transform Nym from application-level protections to a general purpose protocol for private communications.

The Lewes Protocol is a Noise-based part of a family of Post-Quantum Pre-Shared-Key Protocols (PSQs) that mix a pre-shared, symmetric secret into key exchange mechanisms like WireGuard used by NymVPN’s Fast mode. This adds post-quantum security to the earliest phase of your NymVPN connection.

Key exchange is where a VPN session begins. Before any of your traffic travels through the tunnel, your device and the network have to agree on shared cryptographic keys. That handshake is the foundation everything else sits on. If the handshake is vulnerable, it doesn't matter how strong the rest of the encryption is. Post-quantum keys harden that handshake against quantum attack.

But that’s not all that’s special about the Lewes Protocol. Post-quantum algorithms have historically come with performance costs. So with NymVPN, we designed it with a practical constraint: it has to be fast. The Lewes Protocol is built to reduce connection startup time compared to prior post-quantum approaches. This means not only a quantum secure connection, but a more optimized start-up.

Using post-quantum keys on NymVPN

The Lewes Protocol protects the key exchange on your 2-hop decentralized routing on the Fast mode. Before being enabled as the default for all users, it is now available as a toggle you can enable in Settings.

Give it a try and let the Nym devs know what you think about the difference.