Ethereum

Ethereum Prepares For Quantum Era With New Funding And Team

5 hours ago
Bitcoin Ethereum News
  • The Ethereum Foundation has formed a special Post-Quantum (PQ) team led by Thomas Coratger.
  • The foundation is doing this to harden the network against future quantum threats.
  • Developers are launching biweekly sessions and testnets to test quantum-resistant transactions.

The Ethereum Foundation is officially moving its research into preparing for quantum threat security for all users. 

Researchers believe that the timeline for quantum threats to blockchains is speeding up. Because of this, the Ethereum Foundation is moving from theory to active development against this threat.

A Dedicated Team for Post-Quantum Security

The Ethereum Foundation has appointed Thomas Coratger to lead its new Post-Quantum team, and this group will focus on protecting the network from future threats in the quantum sense.

For context, quantum computers are machines that could “theoretically” crack the encryption that currently keeps many blockchains safe.

Emile, another cryptographer involved with leanVM, is also joining Coratger alongside Justin Drake.

Drake is one of the most prominent researchers at the foundation, and he recently took to X to describe leanVM as an important building block for this venture. 

He says that leanVM is similar to a minimalist virtual machine designed for zero-knowledge proofs, and this tool helps the network handle complex math without sacrificing speed or privacy.

The team believes that waiting for a threat to arrive is too risky. Because of this, they are now treating post-quantum security as a priority. This means that the entire ecosystem will now get more resources and faster development cycles.

New Post-Quantum Security Protocols

Making Ethereum quantum resistant requires a massive coordination effort across many different software teams, and Justin Drake confirmed that multi-client consensus test networks are already live. 

These networks allow developers to experiment with new security rules in a controlled environment.

Biweekly developer sessions will also begin next month and Antonio Sanso will lead these meetings to focus on transaction security. The goal is to create protocol level tools that protect the average user. 

They are also looking at account abstraction as a way to let users upgrade their security settings easily.

Another major area of improvement is in signature aggregation. In all, the network wants to use leanVM to bundle many digital signatures together. 

This makes the data smaller and harder for a quantum machine to manipulate. The weekly calls will also help different teams stay on the same page during this transition.

How The Foundation Is Funding This

The Ethereum Foundation is both asking for help and paying for it.

They have committed $2 million in new prizes to solve specific math problems. In particular, the Poseidon Prize offers $1 million to anyone who can help harden the Poseidon hash function. According to experts, this specific function is important for the privacy tools Ethereum uses every day.

Aside from the Poseidon hash function, the foundation is offering another $1 million to the Proximity Prize. This initiative is challenging developers to find new ways to apply post quantum security to the current blockchain. 

Industry Leaders Assess the Quantum Threat

Other organisations are also moving fast in this quantum race. Coinbase recently formed an independent advisory board to look at these same risks, and this board features experts from all over the industry. 

While a functional quantum computer that can break encryption might be years away, Ethereum’s transition could take time. This is because moving millions of users to new wallet formats is a slow process. 

At the same time, if the industry waits too long, the risk of lost funds increases.

Source: https://www.livebitcoinnews.com/ethereum-prepares-for-quantum-era-with-new-funding-and-team/