Vitalik Buterin suggests a ‘straightforward’ hard fork as a defense against a potential quantum attack on Ethereum

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin asserts that Ethereum is already in a favorable position to address the potential threat of a quantum computing attack on the network. In a recent post on Ethereum Research, Buterin discussed the implications of a “quantum emergency” occurring as early as tomorrow. He proposed that if quantum computers were made available to malicious actors who could use them to steal users’ funds, a hard fork would be necessary. However, Buterin reassured that only a small number of users would lose their funds in the process. The hard fork would involve rolling back the Ethereum network to a point where large-scale theft was detected and disabling traditional transactions from that point forward. Developers would then introduce a new transaction type, part of the RIP-7560, to enable transactions from smart contract wallets. To protect users’ private keys in a post-quantum world, the new transaction type would utilize Winternitz signatures and zero-knowledge proof technologies called “STARKs.” This would ensure that existing wallets are switched to new validation code. Buterin emphasized that users who have never approved a transaction from an Ethereum wallet are already safe from a potential quantum-related exploit. He also mentioned that the infrastructure needed to implement the necessary hard fork could potentially be developed starting from tomorrow. While the advent of quantum computing has been a concern for the crypto industry due to its potential to break blockchain encryption, many experts believe that practical quantum computing is still several years away. Google and IBM engineers estimate that quantum computing won’t be sufficiently advanced until at least 2029.