By Jason Nelson
3 min read
The Ethereum Foundation has officially elevated post-quantum security to a top-tier strategic priority, establishing a dedicated internal team as industry experts warn of accelerating threats from quantum computing.
In an announcement posted on X on Friday, Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake unveiled the formation of the Post-Quantum (PQ) team, labeling the initiative a decisive "inflection point" for the network’s long-term strategy.
“After years of quiet R&D, EF management has officially declared PQ security a top strategic priority,” Drake wrote, saying that Ethereum’s journey to post-quantum began in 2019. “It’s now 2026, timelines are accelerating. Time to go full PQ.”
The effort, Drake said, will be led by Thomas Coratger and the contributing team behind LeanVM, which he called a “cryptographic cornerstone of our entire post-quantum strategy.”
The announcement follows growing pressure across the crypto industry to prepare for a future in which quantum computers could undermine today’s blockchain cryptography. Ethereum, like Bitcoin, relies on elliptic-curve cryptography, which researchers say could eventually be broken by sufficiently powerful quantum machines.
Earlier this month, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin warned developers not to delay preparing for the day a practical quantum computer comes online, arguing that the network should be able to function for decades without relying on constant upgrades.
“Being able to say 'Ethereum's protocol, as it stands today, is cryptographically safe for a hundred years' is something we should strive to get to as soon as possible, and insist on as a point of pride,” he said.
Beginning in February, Drake continued, Ethereum Foundation researcher Antonio Sanso will lead a biweekly All Core Developers breakout call on post-quantum transactions, focused on user-facing security issues like account abstraction, and longer-term transaction signature aggregation.
Drake also announced a $1 million Poseidon Prize, a contest to harden the Poseidon hash function used in Ethereum applications. “We are betting big on hash-based cryptography to enjoy the strongest and leanest cryptographic foundations,” he wrote.
Drake’s work on Ethereum’s post-quantum strategy overlaps with broader industry efforts. He is also a member of a recently formed quantum advisory board at crypto exchange Coinbase, which is focused on assessing how future quantum advances could affect blockchain security and how long-term cryptographic transitions might be managed.
“Believe in something,” he wrote. “Believe in [post-quantum] security.”
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