The US Department of the Treasury has created a new public-private group to help banks, payment systems, market operators, and technology vendors prepare for a future in which quantum computers could undermine today’s encryption.
Announced on August 24, 2026, the Quantum-Readiness Task Force follows President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14412.
That order set direction for stronger cryptographic defenses around sensitive data, essential infrastructure, and the digital economy.
Treasury framed the effort as part of a broader push to protect American innovation, reinforce supply chains, and keep the United States at the forefront of emerging technologies.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the country must lead in safeguarding the systems that drive its economy.
He argued that the task force would help keep the financial system robust, secure, and competitive as new technologies change the global landscape.
The group’s purpose is to speed an orderly, resilient move by the U.S. financial sector to quantum-safe tools.
It builds on a roadmap issued earlier in the year by the G7 Cyber Expert Group on the shift to post-quantum cryptography.
Officials said the work also advances the administration’s cybersecurity priorities by promoting post-quantum algorithms and hardening critical financial infrastructure.
Three workstreams will organize the effort. One will focus on sector-wide alignment and the practical transition to post-quantum cryptography.
A second will examine the readiness of third-party vendors and other suppliers that financial firms depend on.
A third will look at risks tied to digital assets and other emerging technologies.
Treasury noted that quantum computing could eventually transform science and industry.
At the same time, sufficiently powerful quantum machines could break many of the cryptographic methods that now protect financial records, payment networks, digital identities, and market infrastructure.
Officials described the move to post-quantum cryptography as essential to US economic security and to the resilience of the financial system.
The task force will convene officials, banks, financial market infrastructures, technology companies, and other private-sector leaders.
Its approach is meant to be practical and risk-based.
Planned work includes mapping critical dependencies, improving cryptographic agility so algorithms can be swapped as threats and standards change, promoting interoperability, strengthening operational resilience, and tackling implementation problems that arise from third-party relationships and digital-asset systems.
Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions Luke Pettit said quantum computing offers real promise but also poses a serious long-term threat to the cryptography that underpins US finance.
He said the task force would help make the shift coordinated, risk-based, and operationally resilient.
By pairing government and industry, he added, the United States could reinforce trust in its financial system and support both economic and national security.
Deborah Guild, chair of the Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council and head of technology at PNC Financial Services Group, described post-quantum readiness as a present-day risk-control issue rather than a distant planning exercise.
She said firms must prioritize their most important systems, manage dependencies across the financial ecosystem, and confront implementation challenges.
In her view, the task force creates the conditions for government and industry to align priorities and accelerate the transition.
The announcement underscores a growing consensus that financial institutions cannot wait until quantum computers become fully practical. Data encrypted today can be stored and decrypted later. Coordinated planning, vendor readiness, and cryptographic agility are therefore treated as immediate operational concerns.