Ethereum may complete its post-quantum transition by 2028

Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake expressed hope that Ethereum will complete the transition to post-quantum security and AI threat-aware architecture by December 2028. This timeline is a year ahead of the organization's current target, which aims for quantum resilience by the end of 2029.

Speaking on November 3 at the Devcon 8 conference in Mumbai, Drake stated: “Our hope is that by December 2028 we’ll be able to wrap up the full post-quantum and post-AI transition.” According to him, to achieve this goal, developers need to release 3 more network updates over the next 24 months.

However, Drake's statement does not imply an official revision of the timeline. According to the roadmap of the Ethereum Foundation, published on September 7, 2026, quantum resilience should be ensured by December 2029 across all 3 levels of Ethereum: transaction execution, consensus, and data processing. A reassessment of quantum risks with the involvement of external experts is scheduled for January 2027.

Preparing Ethereum for Quantum Threats

Work on the post-quantum architecture has been underway for several months. In August, Drake presented plans to prepare the leanVM technology for practical implementation in 2027. It is designed for efficient computation verification and is considered one of the components of Ethereum's future cryptographic protection system.

The next stage, according to previously presented plans, should be the implementation of post-quantum solutions at the execution, consensus, and data levels in 2028. However, these timelines remain preliminary.

The pace of Ethereum's preparation has already sparked discussion among developers of other blockchain projects. StarkWare CEO, the developer of the Starknet network, Eli Ben-Sasson previously called Ethereum's 2029 target too late and warned of the risk of further timeline shifts.

In October, the Starknet community supported exploring the possibility of transitioning to an independent first-level network with post-quantum protection. This option would allow the project to reduce its dependence on Ethereum's update timelines, but a decision on the transition has not yet been made.

Thus, December 2028 remains the earlier target proposed by Drake, while the official goal of the Ethereum Foundation is set for December 2029. Further timeline assessments will depend on the results of development and quantum risk reassessment.