Ethereum researcher sets Dec 2028 quantum-resistance goal
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Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake told an audience at Devcon 8 in Mumbai on November 3, 2026 that he hopes Ethereum can complete its post-quantum and post-AI transition by December 2028, according to Crypto Briefing. That would land a year ahead of the December 2029 quantum-resistance deadline set in the foundation’s September 2025 roadmap.
Drake framed the earlier date as an aspiration. He described the 2028 finish as the foundation’s hope and said developers would have to deliver three additional network upgrades within 24 months, following a milestone expected in early 2027.
Key facts
- Drake presented the December 2028 goal at Devcon 8 in Mumbai on November 3, 2026, calling it the foundation’s hope rather than a commitment.
- The existing roadmap, published in September 2025, sets December 2029 as the target for quantum resistance; Drake’s remarks do not formally replace it.
- Roughly 72% of the ETH supply sits in accounts whose public keys are already exposed, which is the exposure the upgrade work is meant to address.
- A dedicated Post-Quantum Security team was formed in January 2026 to lead the effort.
- The research focuses on hash-based signatures, with leanSPHINCS and leanXMSS named as candidates, plus new data availability designs.
Why two signature schemes are exposed
Ethereum currently depends on two elliptic-curve schemes. ECDSA protects ordinary user accounts, while BLS signatures underpin validator activity in proof-of-stake consensus. Hash-based alternatives draw their security from hash functions rather than elliptic curves, a property generally regarded as much harder for quantum machines to break.
The account-migration question is the practical one for holders. With a large share of supply already tied to addresses with exposed public keys, any shift would likely require users, exchanges and custodians to move funds into new quantum-resistant arrangements at some point.
AI risk raised as a separate worry
Drake has said the “post-AI” half of the phrase is the newer concern. In October 2026 he warned that advances in artificial intelligence could break current signature schemes before quantum hardware is capable of doing so, which gives the work a second clock.
Outside developers have pressed the case for speed. Starknet’s community backed research into becoming an independent post-quantum layer-1 network in October, and StarkWare CEO Eli Ben-Sasson previously told Cointelegraph that Ethereum’s 2029 target was too late, warning that deadlines could slip, Cointelegraph reported.
The two accounts agree on the core numbers, including the December 2028 and December 2029 dates and the three-upgrade scope. Cointelegraph adds that the foundation’s roadmap is scheduled for reassessment in January 2027, and that Drake outlined plans in August for production-ready leanVM technology in 2027 followed by post-quantum deployments across Ethereum’s execution, consensus and data layers in 2028. Crypto Briefing, for its part, characterises the 2028 date as an internal goal that sits alongside the published roadmap rather than superseding it.
Why it matters
For ETH holders, the timeline is less about a conference slide than about where their funds sit. If a large part of supply is held in accounts with exposed keys, the migration becomes a collective operational task involving wallets, exchanges and custodians, not just core developers. The compressed schedule also raises execution risk: three hard forks in roughly two years leaves little slack, and the January 2026 team gives the work staff but not extra time.
What to watch
The early 2027 milestone is the first checkpoint. If it slips, the 2028 hope could drift back toward the 2029 roadmap date or later. A formal update to the foundation’s roadmap, expected around its January 2027 reassessment, would settle whether the earlier target is being adopted officially. Until then, December 2028 is what Drake called it: a hope, backed by a team, a plan and three forks still to be built.
Disclaimer: This article is for information only and is not investment, financial or trading advice. Cryptocurrency prices are highly volatile. Always do your own research.
Sources: Crypto Briefing, Cointelegraph
