Ethereum Foundation Charts Post-Quantum Future, Announces $1M Prize

The Ethereum Foundation is preparing for its post-quantum future, announcing the formation of a dedicated post-quantum team and $1M bounty to harden Ethereum against the threat posed by quantum computing.

What's the Scoop?

• New Team: The Post Quantum (PQ) team will be led by Thomas Coratger, a cryptographic engineer at the Ethereum Foundation, who will be supported by Emile, a leading specialist in leanVM (the cryptographic cornerstone of EF's post-quantum strategy). The EF has also announced a $1M Poseidon Prize, which will reward cryptographers for ensuring the security of an encryption algorithm that will power leanVM.
• PQ Progress: Multi-client post-quantum consensus devnets are already active, coordinated across both new and established Ethereum client teams. To ensure continued progress, a new bi-weekly PQ team call will focus on user-facing PQ transitions, including precompiles, account abstraction, and future transaction aggregation.
• Growing Concern: Quantum is the latest trend gripping the crypto industry's attention. Earlier this month, Vitalik Buterin posted that Ethereum must achieve full quantum-resistance “as soon as possible,” so that the protocol’s cryptography can be trusted for a hundred years. Coinbase formed its own quantum advisory board last week, and post-quantum crypto startup Project Eleven was just valued at $120M.
• Impending Updates: The EF plans to publish a comprehensive roadmap targeting a zero-downtime, zero-loss transition to post-quantum security in the coming years.