Ethereum plans to move from BLS signatures to post quantum secure signatures
Ethereum is planning to transition from BLS signatures to post-quantum secure signatures to address vulnerabilities posed by quantum computing. This upgrade is part of Ethereum's roadmap to enhance its cryptographic security, as current algorithms are not quantum-safe. The move aims to maintain trust in the Ethereum network amidst growing concerns over quantum threats.
- ▪Ethereum currently uses pairing-based signatures that are based on elliptic curves, which are not secure against quantum attacks.
- ▪The transition to post-quantum cryptography is crucial for maintaining the integrity and trust in the Ethereum network.
- ▪The Ethereum network has between 900,000 to 1 million active validators, making signature verification a significant overhead.
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For many happy years we've built our digital world, including the decentralized digital world, on the shoulders of Diffie-Hellman, RSA, ElGamal and elliptic curves. The classic public key cryptography that most of us use for key exchange and digital signatures is unfortunately under threat. Well, the threat might be multiple with the uprising of AI, but in this case we're focusing on the threat of quantum computers. If a quantum computer is built that can execute Shor's algorithm (which breaks both elliptic curve cryptography and RSA), secret keys can be deduced from the public keys and thus digital signatures can be forged.Ethereum is exposed to this threat as well, since it uses pairing-based signatures throughout the stack which are based on elliptic curves and thus not quantum-safe.
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