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Aevum & Bond

Arca overview

Arca is an open-source post-quantum hardware signer.

  • CPU: open RISC-V MCU.
  • BOM: USD 22–28.
  • Signing primitive: ML-DSA-65 (FIPS 204) on-device.
  • PIN protection: Argon2id (RFC 9106).
  • Entropy: TRNG audited against NIST SP 800-90B (startup + continuous health tests).
  • Communication: QR codes only — no radio, no USB data, no Bluetooth.
  • Licensing: firmware Apache-2.0; schematics, gerbers, BOM under CERN-OHL-S v2.

An NLnet NGI0 Core grant application (EUR 50,000) funds the reference firmware implementation and the first audited prototype run.