Ethereum Foundation Shifts to Established Hash Functions for Quantum-Resistant Architecture
The Ethereum Foundation has made an adjustment to its quantum-resistant architecture plan by removing the Poseidon hash function. Instead, it will rely on established alternatives like SHA or BLAKE. Hash functions are crucial cryptographic tools that convert data into fixed-length digital fingerprints for verification purposes.
Justin Drake, an Ethereum Foundation researcher, stated that recent advances in SNARKs (zero-knowledge proof technology) have made existing hash functions efficient enough to meet the required processing speed. This shift is part of leanVM's development, which aims to efficiently verify large-scale blockchain activity.
A production-ready leanVM is targeted for completion by 2027, with a phased deployment across Ethereum's consensus, data, and execution layers planned for 2028. Sreeram Kannan, founder and CEO of EigenLayer, noted that hash-based systems have fewer known attack paths compared to other quantum-resistant approaches and can be deployed faster due to years of testing.
Joint research between the Ethereum Foundation and Succinct (a zero-knowledge proof company) has led to a 2.5 times increase in proof speeds.