Ethereum co-founder says improved 3-SAT algorithms could threaten hash preimage security

Techub News reported that Ethereum co-founder @dankrad said hash-based cryptography would not be exempt from the same class of risk if improvements in subexponential 3-SAT algorithms prove effective on real-world problem sizes. In his post, he argued that if those advances work in practice at meaningful scales, they could likely also be applied to finding preimages for hash functions. He also cited an analysis on recent progress in the elliptic-curve discrete logarithm problem. According to that analysis, the new results only make group structure usable when curve sizes become extremely large. That threshold, he said, is far beyond the curves currently used in practice, meaning the development has no impact on existing curves at this stage. The remarks draw a distinction between a theoretical risk path for hash-based systems and the current practical limits of the elliptic-curve result referenced in his post.