Ethereum Researcher Justin Drake Urges “Bunker Mode” Planning as ECDSA Risk Grows

Justin Drake, a researcher at the Ethereum Foundation, wants the industry to start planning for what he calls “bunker mode.” His advice is to move crypto into fresh addresses that keep their public keys hidden behind a hash. He stressed this is his personal view, that existing cryptography has not been broken, and that nobody should panic, since a rushed move could do more harm than good.

Why ECDSA Could Fall Before Q-Day

Bitcoin and Ethereum both rely on ECDSA to prove a transaction was approved by the right private key holder. Drake fears it could be broken before quantum computers reach “q-day,” possibly letting someone recover a private key within a week using a large group of GPUs. He says the worst case could arrive in “months not years.” Current Ethereum guidance still says quantum machines cannot break the network today. Drake also named advances in AI as a way to find a non quantum attack on elliptic curves, pointing to OpenAI’s release this week of 722 math manuscripts as a warning sign.

How to Move Funds to Fresh Bitcoin and Ethereum Addresses

Large and sophisticated holders should go first. An address can expose its public key once it signs a transaction, so any leftover funds should move to a new address afterward. Drake asked Binance, Bitbank, Robinhood, Bitfinex and Tether to strengthen cold storage. Project Eleven’s Bitcoin Risq List tracks more than 14 million exposed addresses. Wallets under 50 BTC get some cover from “Satoshi’s shield,” since about 20,000 Satoshi-linked addresses holding 50 BTC each would likely be hit first.

Drake says leaving bunker mode safely will take “post-AI cryptography.” He favors hash-based security, which Ethereum’s draft roadmap already moves toward.