The Ethereum Foundation has announced plans to upgrade the network's security measures to protect against potential quantum threats. As part of this effort, a large-scale update is expected in 2026 that will replace vulnerable components with more secure alternatives.
Currently, the Ethereum protocol has four components that are susceptible to attack by quantum computers: consensus-level signatures, data availability, user address operation algorithms, and ZK-proofs. To address these vulnerabilities, the update plan includes a step-by-step restructuring of the network.
The new system will feature hash-based cryptography for validator signatures, which will be significantly faster than standard solutions. Additionally, the network will transition from KZG to STARK proofs, a process that will require extensive technical work due to the large amount of space required by new algorithms.
In order to optimize information storage, the team will need to balance security with efficiency considerations. To address concerns about increased transaction fees, the network plans to implement aggregation at the protocol level.