diff --git a/govtool/backend/app/Main.hs b/govtool/backend/app/Main.hs
index 522b40bb6..cf0b58d10 100644
--- a/govtool/backend/app/Main.hs
+++ b/govtool/backend/app/Main.hs
@@ -298,6 +298,7 @@ liftServer appEnv =
             NotFoundError _   -> err404
             CriticalError _   -> err500
             InternalError _   -> err500
+            UnauthorizedError _ -> err401
             AppIpfsError (OtherIpfsError _)    -> err400
             AppIpfsError _    -> err503
       throwError $ status { errBody = encode appError, errHeaders = [("Content-Type", "application/json")] }
diff --git a/govtool/backend/example-config.json b/govtool/backend/example-config.json
index 7cfb4d5f2..7b3fea2f2 100644
--- a/govtool/backend/example-config.json
+++ b/govtool/backend/example-config.json
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
       "port"     : 5432
     },
   "pinataapijwt": "",
+  "ipfsuploadapikey": "",
   "port" : 9999,
   "host" : "localhost",
   "cachedurationseconds": 20,
diff --git a/govtool/backend/src/VVA/API.hs b/govtool/backend/src/VVA/API.hs
index c0a594f7a..0051cd776 100644
--- a/govtool/backend/src/VVA/API.hs
+++ b/govtool/backend/src/VVA/API.hs
@@ -53,12 +53,12 @@ import qualified VVA.Proposal             as Proposal
 import qualified VVA.Transaction          as Transaction
 import qualified VVA.Types                as Types
 import           VVA.Types                (App, AppEnv (..),
-                                           AppError (AppIpfsError, CriticalError, InternalError, ValidationError),
+                                           AppError (AppIpfsError, CriticalError, InternalError, UnauthorizedError, ValidationError),
                                            CacheEnv (..))
 
 type VVAApi =
          "ipfs"
-                :> "upload"  :>  QueryParam "fileName" Text :> ReqBody '[PlainText] Text :> Post '[JSON] UploadResponse
+                :> "upload"  :>  Header "Authorization" Text :> QueryParam "fileName" Text :> ReqBody '[PlainText] Text :> Post '[JSON] UploadResponse
     :<|> "drep" :> "list"
                 :> QueryParam "search" Text
                 :> QueryParams "status" DRepStatus
@@ -118,9 +118,21 @@ server = upload
     :<|> getNetworkTotalStake
     :<|> getAccountInfo
 
-upload :: App m => Maybe Text -> Text -> m UploadResponse
-upload mFileName fileContentText = do
+upload :: App m => Maybe Text -> Maybe Text -> Text -> m UploadResponse
+upload mAuthHeader mFileName fileContentText = do
   AppEnv {vvaConfig} <- ask
+  let configuredApiKey = ipfsUploadApiKey vvaConfig
+  case configuredApiKey of
+    Nothing -> throwError $ UnauthorizedError "IPFS upload is not configured on this server"
+    Just expectedKey -> do
+      case mAuthHeader of
+        Nothing -> throwError $ UnauthorizedError "Missing Authorization header. Please provide a valid API key."
+        Just authHeader -> do
+          let strippedKey = if "Bearer " `isPrefixOf` authHeader
+                            then Text.drop (Text.length "Bearer ") authHeader
+                            else authHeader
+          when (strippedKey /= expectedKey) $
+            throwError $ UnauthorizedError "Invalid API key"
   let fileContent = TL.encodeUtf8 $ TL.fromStrict fileContentText
       vvaPinataJwt = pinataApiJwt vvaConfig
       fileName = fromMaybe "data.txt" mFileName -- Default to data.txt if no filename is provided
diff --git a/govtool/backend/src/VVA/Config.hs b/govtool/backend/src/VVA/Config.hs
index b11358f3d..ff1b749ce 100644
--- a/govtool/backend/src/VVA/Config.hs
+++ b/govtool/backend/src/VVA/Config.hs
@@ -83,6 +83,8 @@ data VVAConfigInternal
       , vVAConfigInternalSentryEnv                    :: String
         -- | Pinata API JWT
       , vVAConfigInternalPinataApiJwt                 :: Maybe Text
+        -- | API key required to authorize IPFS uploads
+      , vVAConfigInternalIpfsUploadApiKey             :: Maybe Text
       }
   deriving (FromConfig, Generic, Show)
 
@@ -97,7 +99,8 @@ instance DefaultConfig VVAConfigInternal where
         vVaConfigInternalDRepListCacheDurationSeconds = 600,
         vVAConfigInternalSentrydsn = "https://username:password@senty.host/id",
         vVAConfigInternalSentryEnv = "development",
-        vVAConfigInternalPinataApiJwt = Nothing
+        vVAConfigInternalPinataApiJwt = Nothing,
+        vVAConfigInternalIpfsUploadApiKey = Nothing
       }
 
 -- | DEX configuration.
@@ -119,6 +122,8 @@ data VVAConfig
       , sentryEnv                    :: String
         -- | Pinata API JWT
       , pinataApiJwt                 :: Maybe Text
+        -- | API key required to authorize IPFS uploads
+      , ipfsUploadApiKey             :: Maybe Text
       }
   deriving (Generic, Show, ToJSON)
 
@@ -161,7 +166,8 @@ convertConfig VVAConfigInternal {..} =
       dRepListCacheDurationSeconds = vVaConfigInternalDRepListCacheDurationSeconds,
       sentryDSN = vVAConfigInternalSentrydsn,
       sentryEnv = vVAConfigInternalSentryEnv,
-      pinataApiJwt = vVAConfigInternalPinataApiJwt
+      pinataApiJwt = vVAConfigInternalPinataApiJwt,
+      ipfsUploadApiKey = vVAConfigInternalIpfsUploadApiKey
     }
 
 -- | Load configuration from a file specified on the command line.  Load from
diff --git a/govtool/backend/src/VVA/Types.hs b/govtool/backend/src/VVA/Types.hs
index 9ace0e5bc..ffde7911b 100644
--- a/govtool/backend/src/VVA/Types.hs
+++ b/govtool/backend/src/VVA/Types.hs
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@ data AppError
   | CriticalError Text
   | InternalError Text
   | AppIpfsError IpfsError
+  | UnauthorizedError Text
   deriving (Show)
 
 instance Exception AppError
@@ -71,6 +72,7 @@ instance ToJSON AppError where
   toJSON (CriticalError msg)   = object ["errorType" .= A.String "CriticalError", "message" .= msg]
   toJSON (InternalError msg)   = object ["errorType" .= A.String "InternalError", "message" .= msg]
   toJSON (AppIpfsError err)    =  toJSON err
+  toJSON (UnauthorizedError msg) = object ["errorType" .= A.String "UnauthorizedError", "message" .= msg]
 
 data Vote
   = Vote
diff --git a/govtool/frontend/src/config/env.ts b/govtool/frontend/src/config/env.ts
index 9252934f8..9d0f8c0bf 100644
--- a/govtool/frontend/src/config/env.ts
+++ b/govtool/frontend/src/config/env.ts
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ export const env = {
   VITE_OUTCOMES_API_URL: getEnv("VITE_OUTCOMES_API_URL"),
   VITE_IPFS_GATEWAY: getEnv("VITE_IPFS_GATEWAY"),
   VITE_IPFS_PROJECT_ID: getEnv("VITE_IPFS_PROJECT_ID"),
+  VITE_IPFS_UPLOAD_API_KEY: getEnv("VITE_IPFS_UPLOAD_API_KEY"),
 
   VITE_GTM_ID: getEnv("VITE_GTM_ID"),
   VITE_SENTRY_DSN: getEnv("VITE_SENTRY_DSN"),
diff --git a/govtool/frontend/src/services/requests/postIpfs.ts b/govtool/frontend/src/services/requests/postIpfs.ts
index 346dff3c4..fd514c659 100644
--- a/govtool/frontend/src/services/requests/postIpfs.ts
+++ b/govtool/frontend/src/services/requests/postIpfs.ts
@@ -1,10 +1,17 @@
 import { API } from "../API";
+import { env } from "@/config/env";
 
 export const postIpfs = async ({ content }: { content: string }) => {
+  const headers: Record<string, string> = {
+    "Content-Type": "text/plain;charset=utf-8",
+  };
+
+  if (env.VITE_IPFS_UPLOAD_API_KEY) {
+    headers["Authorization"] = `Bearer ${env.VITE_IPFS_UPLOAD_API_KEY}`;
+  }
+
   const response = await API.post("/ipfs/upload", content, {
-    headers: {
-      "Content-Type": "text/plain;charset=utf-8"
-    }
+    headers,
   });
   return response.data;
 };