Ethereum already ‘20%’ of the way toward quantum resilience: Interview

The increasing threat of fault-tolerant quantum computers capable of running Shor’s algorithm has placed blockchain security under intense scrutiny. According to statements made by core developers, the Ethereum network is currently assessed as being ‘20% of the way’ toward achieving full quantum resilience.

This metric, discussed in a recent interview with cryptographic researchers focusing on the Ethereum roadmap, signifies that the foundational research and architectural planning required for the transition have been largely completed. The initial 20% covers the definition of the threat model, the selection of appropriate Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) standards—likely drawn from the NIST competition, such as CRYSTALS-Dilithium or SPHINCS+—and the drafting of proposals to harden the consensus layer against initial quantum attacks.

‘The critical first step was understanding the enormous trade-offs,’ explained Dr. Elias Vance, a protocol researcher. ‘PQC signatures are fundamentally much larger than current ECDSA signatures. This impacts everything from transaction size to gas costs. We have spent the last few years optimizing and standardizing the interface, effectively defining the scope of the massive migration ahead. That’s the 20% baseline completed.’

The remaining 80% focuses predominantly on the migration challenge. The biggest hurdle is transitioning millions of legacy External Owned Accounts (EOAs), which rely on quantum-vulnerable cryptography, to new quantum-safe address standards. This effort will likely require complex soft and hard forks, implementation of Smart Contract Wallets (SCWs) that inherently support key rotation and PQC, and a lengthy user education campaign. Developers emphasized that while the threat is not immediate, the urgency lies in integrating PQC measures long before the projected timeline for large-scale quantum availability (estimated to be 2035-2045), ensuring Ethereum avoids a catastrophic, retroactive security update.

Source: Ethereum already ‘20%’ of the way toward quantum resilience: Interview