In a recent post on Ethereum Research dated March 9, Buterin explored the hypothetical situation of a “quantum emergency” that could arise as early as tomorrow.
Speculating on the implications of such an event, Buterin highlighted Ethereum's willingness to meet the challenge head on.
Protection against possible threats
Speculating on the hypothetical scenario of a quantum emergency, Buterin declared“Suppose it is announced tomorrow that quantum computers are available and that bad actors already have access to them and are able to use them to steal user funds.”
Buterin argued that Ethereum is already “well-positioned” to provide a strong defense against a potential quantum computing attack. He proposed a simple solution involving a hard fork of the blockchain and introducing new types of transactions.
“The blockchain would have to be forced and users would have to download new wallet software, but few users would lose their funds,” Buterin explained, describing the recovery process in the face of a quantum threat.
According to him, the main challenge of quantum computers lies in their impact on cryptographic systems such as Ethereum addresses. These wallets are derived from private keys using elliptic curve multiplication. Quantum computers can reverse this process, making elliptic curve cryptography vulnerable. However, hash functions like Ethereum's keccak remain secure even in such a situation.
Quantum-Resilient Transactions
Buterin explained that Ethereum developers plan to introduce a new transaction type under the RIP-7560 protocol, allowing transactions from smart contract wallets. Where quantum computing threatens security, a transaction with the Ethereum wallet could expose the user's private and public keys.
The proposed transaction type, an integral part of the quantum-resistant EIP, would use Winternitz signatures and STARKs to transition existing wallets to new validation codes. Based on the ERC-4337 account abstraction, a core technology of smart contract wallets, this code aims to prevent the exposure of private keys during transactions, making these accounts resistant to quantum attacks.
Buterin also reassured users that those who have never approved a transaction from an Ethereum wallet are already safe from possible quantum exploits, as only the wallet address is publicly available. Furthermore, he emphasized that the infrastructure needed to implement such a hard fork could begin to develop immediately.
The introduction of quantum computing has long been a concern for the cryptocurrency industry, as it threatens blockchain encryption. However, many experts, including those at Google and IBM, predict that large-scale quantum computing capabilities will not come to fruition until at least 2029.
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