PQClean/PQClean

PQClean is a cornerstone of the modern cryptographic ecosystem. It serves as the 'gold standard' source for clean, portable C implementations of PQC algorithms like ML-KEM (Kyber) and ML-DSA (Dilithium). With a defensibility score of 9, it is an infrastructure-grade project with high data gravity; most high-level PQC libraries (e.g., Open Quantum Safe's liboqs) pull their implementations directly from PQClean. The moat is not in a proprietary algorithm but in the rigorous verification, testing (avoiding dynamic memory allocation, ensuring constant-time execution), and the community consensus that this is the trusted source. Frontier labs (OpenAI, Google, Anthropic) are unlikely to compete here; they are heavy consumers of this technology to secure their infrastructure against future quantum threats. The risk of platform domination is low because the industry demands open-source, vendor-neutral crypto to ensure trust. Market consolidation is naturally high because the industry gravitates toward a single, vetted implementation for security reasons (the 'one true implementation' effect). The project's age (7+ years) and steady star growth indicate it has survived the hype cycle and is now a critical piece of global security infrastructure.