Vitalik Buterin Backs “Bunker Mode” Plan as AI Math Gains Threaten Crypto Security

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has endorsed a warning that artificial intelligence could weaken blockchain cryptography before quantum computers do. He was replying on Wednesday to Ethereum researcher Justin Drake, who urged the industry to prepare for “bunker mode” because AI might eventually crack ECDSA, the algorithm protecting crypto wallets.

Drake pointed to OpenAI’s release of hundreds of new math findings on Tuesday, and to last month’s result, when 10,000 autonomous AI agents solved the Navier-Stokes problem in 88 hours. He said elliptic curves carry rich structure that clever tricks can exploit, unlike hashes, which are built to have little algebraic structure. Buterin said nobody should scramble to move funds today, but the risks deserve serious attention.

Risks to Lattice-Based and Quantum-Resistant Cryptography

Buterin went further, saying lattice based systems believed to resist quantum attacks could also suffer serious damage from the next two years of AI math. That is a major reason Ethereum’s lean roadmap is heading toward a hash-only design. Dragonfly’s Haseeb Qureshi called the warning sober, noting the danger comes from ordinary mathematics overturning unproven hardness assumptions, not from quantum machines.

How to Migrate Crypto to Fresh Wallet Addresses Safely

Both researchers suggested keeping funds in addresses whose public keys have never been exposed. Drake favors a controlled mass migration, starting with large, sophisticated holders, and moving leftover funds to a new address after signing a transaction. Buterin said unused addresses are a good idea if easy to arrange, but warned that he has lost more money in botched migrations than in all hacks combined. Drake agreed that a rushed move would cause more harm than good.