Ethlabs Calls for Ethereum’s Post-Quantum Upgrade to Be Brought Forward to 2027, Citing AI’s Acceleration of Risks
Ethlabs says it wants Ethereum to become post-AI by 2027, in addition to achieving post-quantum readiness, with safeguards against cryptographic risks arising from advances in artificial intelligence.
The group has proposed moving Ethereum’s post-quantum upgrade to 2027, arguing that the faster pace of developments related to quantum computing makes it necessary to act sooner.
In a post on the Ethereum Magicians forum, Ethlabs said the upgrade, which it has named “pqai27,” is necessary because AI is speeding up the timelines associated with quantum and cryptographic risks. At the same time, the group said the move would give Ethereum an opportunity to establish itself as a credible decentralized root of trust.
Ethlabs pointed out that the U.S. government has brought forward its target for addressing quantum risks from 2035 to 2030, while Google is now targeting 2029 to become post-quantum. The Ethereum Foundation had previously set December 2029 as the target for Ethereum to achieve full post-quantum readiness.
“Being post-quantum is not enough; we intend on being post-AI too,” Ethlabs wrote. The group described post-AI as cryptography based on as few assumptions as possible, alongside clients hardened against frontier AI models capable of identifying bugs at scale. It said this approach would rely on formal verification and Ethereum’s client diversity.
The group also cited AI’s success in resolving hundreds of unsolved problems in mathematics and identifying around 1,000 vulnerabilities in Linux. It added that “the security of our cryptography is itself an open maths problem.”
“You don't have to believe in any single one of these threats,” Ethlabs said. “What has changed is that it has become much harder to reason when any of them will arrive. Even at today's levels, AI is accelerating all of them.”
Ethlabs outlined two stages of readiness for 2027. Under the “pqai-ready” stage, consensus would be post-quantum, and users would have a post-quantum way to access their accounts while the network continued operating at scaled capacity. The “pqai-scaled” stage would mean the network could run at full capacity while supporting post-quantum transactions and data availability.
Opportunities
According to the proposal, moving the target date to 2027 would “future-proof” Ethereum’s role as “the credible decentralized root of trust” for the global economy. It added that the network’s ability to withstand uncertainty driven by AI could become its next killer feature.
“With attacks on software taking off, security and uptime will be more in demand than ever,” the proposal said. “Now is the cheapest time to commit. A pivot later, when we are deep into shipping the currently planned fork, would be far more costly than today.”
Ethlabs said Ethereum already has a clear technical route toward this goal. It cited cryptography based on hash functions and requiring minimal assumptions, years of earlier research, a dedicated post-quantum team, and formal verification practices that are already embedded in the development process.
To reach the 2027 goal, Ethlabs said upcoming hard forks, including Hegotá, should be reviewed. Any work that is not essential to achieving post-quantum and post-AI readiness should be reconsidered, it said. The group added that it would withdraw quick slots, a proposal intended to speed up the network’s block production, from Hegotá and redirect its resources to pqai27.
“We don't take this decision lightly,” it wrote. “We pushed for quick slots because our survey showed that the community clearly wants them, and we are ready to defend this decision to the people who trusted us to deliver them.”
Ethlabs was founded by former Ethereum Foundation researchers and began operating earlier this year as a nonprofit organization focused on Ethereum research and development.