Ethereum developers propose new deposit contract to counter quantum computers

Adam Back threw shade at Ethereum after Ethereum researchers warned this week that AI could break the signatures securing Bitcoin and Ethereum "in months, not years" in the worst case, well before quantum computers arrive. Back, the Hashcash inventor and Blockstream chief executive, responded to the warning with the remark "Almost like Satoshi knew something," a jab at Ethereum's design choices. The Ethereum researchers' warning centered on the signature schemes that underpin both Bitcoin and Ethereum, which they said could be broken by AI far sooner than the quantum-computing threat the industry has long anticipated. Back's comment implies that Bitcoin's original design anticipated such risks in a way Ethereum's did not.

Charles Hoskinson, founder of Cardano, pushed back on X on October 9 Japan time against the view that artificial intelligence threatens the security of lattice cryptography. Hoskinson criticized Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin's argument, saying it offered no concrete attack method or basis for its computational cost. Ahead of this debate, a researcher at the Ethereum Foundation warned on October 7 that AI could threaten the digital signatures used in crypto assets sooner than quantum computers would, and Buterin said the following day, October 8, that AI could accelerate mathematical research and uncover unknown weaknesses in lattice cryptography, adding that security could suffer a serious blow within the next two years and that increasing key sizes tenfold would also be reasonable. Hoskinson disputed the analogy to integer factorization, noting that lattice cryptography has years of accumulated research and verification, and said that anyone claiming a similar breakthrough must specify concretely what kind of attack it would be and what it would exploit. He also warned that avoiding the adoption of lattice cryptography before a concrete attack is demonstrated could delay the shift to secure communications prepared for quantum computers.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin posted on X on the 8th, Japan time, that AI-accelerated advances in mathematics make it quite possible that the practical security of lattice cryptography will suffer a serious blow within the next two years. Lattice cryptography is a method based on the difficulty of solving mathematical problems on high-dimensional lattices, and has been regarded as the leading candidate for post-quantum cryptography. The previous day, Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake warned that, citing OpenAI's publication of 722 mathematics papers, the ECDSA signature scheme used by Bitcoin and Ethereum could be broken before Q-Day, the point at which quantum computers crack cryptography, and in the worst case within a matter of months. Drake called on the industry to prepare for bunker mode, proposed systematically moving assets to unused addresses whose public keys have not been exposed, and urged five companies including Binance and bitbank to strengthen their cold wallets. Buterin said he does not recommend rushing to move funds to new wallets today, but added that reliance on cryptography vulnerable to AI should also be reduced, and that if lattice cryptography is used, key sizes should be increased tenfold. Just about three weeks ago, Buterin said that AI also helps defense, so crypto asset security will not collapse; this time he has raised his assessment of the threat by one notch. Blockchains that have considered lattice-based approaches for post-quantum security may be forced to reconsider their strategy.