Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin warned that the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence could render existing cryptographic systems ineffective far sooner than the market expects. He particularly noted that lattice-based cryptography, which is attracting attention as a key future security alternative and a form of post-quantum cryptography, may not become a completely safe haven. However, he added that there is no need to rush to move assets to other wallets immediately in response to the risk.
Buterin analyzed that if artificial intelligence achieves mathematical advances within the next two years comparable to the progress accumulated over the past 50 years, not only existing elliptic-curve cryptography but also lattice-based cryptography could be broken much more easily than currently anticipated. Reflecting these technical concerns, the Lean Ethereum project, a long-term reform initiative within the Ethereum ecosystem, has reportedly spent the past year researching hash-based methods instead of lattice-based technology.
Regarding asset custody, he advised that, if it is not inconvenient, storing assets in unused addresses that have never appeared in past transaction histories may be advantageous from a security perspective. However, he emphasized that users should not act unnecessarily hastily and should proceed carefully, as transferring assets incorrectly in an attempt to strengthen security could instead expose them to an immediate risk of asset loss.
The remarks are drawing market attention in connection with security concerns previously raised by Justin Drake, a researcher affiliated with the Ethereum Foundation. Drake previously recommended that users gradually move assets to new, unused addresses, saying that the point at which artificial intelligence could be used to reverse-engineer private keys from the public keys of elliptic-curve digital signature algorithms may arrive within months.