VANCOUVER, BC, April 14, 2026 -- BTQ Technologies Corp. ("BTQ" or the "Company") , a global quantum technology company focused on securing mission-critical networks, today announced a strategic collaboration with Daou Data Corp. ("Daou Data"), one of Korea's leading IT and payment infrastructure companies, to advance hardware-rooted post-quantum security for Korea's electronic payment systems.

Strengthening Korea's Payment Infrastructure for the Quantum Era

The collaboration is focused on strengthening the security architecture of Daou Data's payment gateway ("PG") and value-added network ("VAN") infrastructure through the introduction of hardware-based Korean post-quantum cryptography ("K-PQC"). The initiative is designed to help prepare critical payment infrastructure for the emerging risks posed by quantum computing, including so-called Harvest Now, Decrypt Later attacks, in which encrypted data intercepted today may be stored and decrypted in the future once sufficiently powerful quantum systems become available.

Under the collaboration, BTQ will contribute its expertise in post-quantum security architecture, hardware-rooted trust frameworks, and deployment design for long-life institutional systems. Daou Data will explore deployment pathways across its payment and enterprise infrastructure, with an initial focus on reinforcing the security foundations of its PG and VAN environments. The goal is to establish a more secure architecture for key generation, cryptographic processing, and key management within dedicated hardware boundaries, helping reduce exposure to external leakage even in the event of system intrusion or elevated privilege compromise.

Keypair's Supporting Role in the Collaboration

Keypair will participate in the collaboration as a supporting implementation partner, contributing hardware security modules and device-layer integration capabilities. Keypair's role builds on BTQ's previously announced strategic investment in the company, under which BTQ secured co-ownership of Keypair's existing and future post-quantum cryptography-related intellectual property and began co-developing next-generation, post-quantum-ready, hardware-rooted security technologies for infrastructure-grade systems. BTQ's relationship with Keypair is intended to accelerate implementations across payments, identity, and regulated institutional systems in Korea.

Why Daou Data Matters

Daou Data is a major enterprise IT solutions and payment infrastructure company and serves as the de facto holding company of the broader Daou Kiwoom Group, which includes seven listed affiliates across KOSPI and KOSDAQ operating across finance, IT, security, HR, content, and commerce. The broader group includes Kiwoom Securities, one of Korea's flagship securities firms, as well as KICA (Korea Information Certificate Authority / SignGATE), a foundational institution in Korea's digital identity, certification, and secure transaction ecosystem. This makes Daou Data a strategically important partner for exploring how post-quantum and hardware-rooted security can be introduced into real financial and enterprise infrastructure in one of the world's most advanced digital markets.

BTQ's Expanding Presence in Korea

The collaboration also reflects BTQ's growing operational footprint in Korea. In recent months, BTQ announced a US$15 million agreement with ICTK to co-develop quantum-secure chip technology and explore collaboration in mass production, certification, and standardization; launched a QSSN proof of concept with Danal, Korea's leading mobile carrier billing provider and operator of Paycoin; and expanded QSSN deployment with Finger Inc. Group, which BTQ described as Korea's largest banking-solutions developer serving major financial institutions. Together, these initiatives position BTQ across hardware security, payments infrastructure, and banking-oriented post-quantum deployment pathways in Korea.

Standards and Strategic Alignment

The broader standards backdrop is also becoming increasingly important. BTQ has previously announced that QuINSA formally approved QSSN as a global standards initiative with unanimous support, placing it on a path toward submissions to ITU, ISO, ETSI, and IEEE. BTQ will help steer the technical roadmap, aligning QSSN with emerging Korean, U.S., and European post-quantum and digital infrastructure initiatives. While this collaboration with Daou Data is distinct from BTQ's QSSN work, both reflect the Company's broader strategy of helping build interoperable, quantum-resilient infrastructure for digital payments and institutional systems.

Management Commentary

Olivier Roussy Newton, CEO of BTQ Technologies, commented:

"Quantum security is no longer a theoretical issue reserved for the lab. It is becoming an operational requirement for real financial infrastructure, especially in environments where encrypted data and system integrity must be protected over long time horizons. Our collaboration with Daou Data reflects BTQ's strategy of bringing hardware-rooted post-quantum security into practical deployment environments, beginning with critical payment systems and extending toward broader enterprise and institutional use cases. With Daou Data's scale and strategic position in Korea's digital economy, we believe this collaboration has the potential to help define a stronger security foundation for next-generation payment infrastructure."

Sangjun Kim, CEO of Daou Data, commented:

"As the threat landscape evolves, we believe the next generation of payment security must be designed not only for current attacks, but also for future cryptographic disruption. By partnering with BTQ Technologies and Keypair, Daou Data is taking a forward-looking approach to payment security and helping shape the next standard for secure, quantum-resilient financial infrastructure."

Looking Beyond Payments

In addition to payment applications, the parties expect the collaboration to inform future opportunities across broader enterprise security environments, including security operations infrastructure and Zero Trust architectures. These may include post-quantum protection for logs, monitoring systems, control commands, and hardware-backed device authentication, building on the same core principle that security should be anchored not only in software, but in physically rooted trust.

This initiative supports BTQ's broader mission to help organizations transition from classical cybersecurity models to quantum-resilient infrastructure through a combination of post-quantum cryptography, hardware security, and advanced validation frameworks.