Ethereum co-founder Vitalik said users should not rush to move funds to new wallets, but they should take seriously the risk that AI-accelerated mathematical computation could pose to cryptography and reduce reliance on schemes that may be vulnerable not only to quantum attacks but also to AI-driven ones.
He identified ML-DSA, FHE (fully homomorphic encryption), and lattice-based cryptography as the new core risk areas. He said this is another reason, beyond the threat from quantum computing, why ECDSA security may collapse faster than expected, which in turn helps explain the recommendation to use new addresses.
Vitalik added that many people still believe that elliptic-curve algorithms will be broken while hash-based and lattice-based cryptographic algorithms remain safe. But in his view, progress in AI-driven mathematics over the next two years could materially weaken the practical security of lattice-based cryptography.
Recommendations from Vitalik
- Prefer hash-based schemes over lattice-based ones where practical.
- Be extremely careful with parameter sizes in any lattice-based scheme.
- For privacy protocols, do not put encrypted notes onchain; send them offchain through third-party mechanisms instead.
- If it is not operationally difficult, keeping funds in addresses that have not been used for any transaction is a good idea.
His view on multisig wallets
For multisig wallets, Vitalik said offchain confirmation is better than onchain confirmation. That way, signatures from signer wallets are not exposed on public networks. If advances in AI cause ECDSA to be broken earlier than expected, the multisig setup could at least degrade gracefully into a 1-of-1 model, meaning the party responsible for collecting signatures would control the funds, which he described as far better than a situation where the funds could simply be taken by anyone.
Earlier, Justin Drake said ECDSA could, in the worst case, be broken within months and advised large holders to move assets to new addresses.