On January 30, 2019, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced the 26 candidate algorithms advancing to the second round of its Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) Standardization Process. The selection followed over a year of evaluation of 69 complete submissions received in response to NIST’s December 2016 call for proposals.
According to NIST’s announcement, 17 public-key encryption and key-establishment algorithms and 9 digital signature schemes were selected. NIST also published NIST Internal Report (NISTIR) 8240, detailing the evaluation criteria and rationale for its selections. The second round of evaluation was estimated to last 12 to 18 months.
NIST planned to hold the Second PQC Standardization Conference on August 22-24, 2019, in Santa Barbara, California, co-located with CRYPTO 2019. After the second round, NIST indicated it might select schemes for standardization or proceed to a third round if needed.