Ethereum Foundation shifts post-quantum plan away from Poseidon
The Ethereum Foundation is stepping back from the Poseidon hash function in its planned post-quantum architecture, according to researcher Justin Drake, as reported by Cointelegraph.
Drake said on Thursday that the foundation is abandoning Poseidon in favor of established alternatives such as SHA or BLAKE. A hash function converts data into a fixed digital fingerprint, allowing computers to verify that information has not been altered.
Poseidon had been under consideration for future post-quantum systems, including leanVM, which is intended to help Ethereum efficiently verify large volumes of blockchain activity. Those systems have not yet been deployed on Ethereum’s mainnet.
According to Drake, advances in SNARKs, compact proofs that confirm computations without repeating the underlying work, mean conventional hash functions can now perform efficiently enough to take Poseidon’s place in these planned systems.
Drake said a production-ready leanVM is targeted for 2027, with deployments across Ethereum’s consensus, data and execution layers expected in 2028. He cautioned that the timeline remains preliminary.
Eigen Labs founder and CEO Sreeram Kannan said established hash-based systems carry fewer known avenues of attack than other post-quantum approaches and could be deployed faster since they have already undergone years of scrutiny.
Kannan added that joint work between Eigen Labs, the Ethereum Foundation and zero-knowledge proof company Succinct had increased proving speeds by 2.5 times.
Cointelegraph noted the update follows Vitalik Buterin’s earlier roadmap outlining quantum resistance plans for Ethereum.
Based on reporting by cointelegraph.com.
