Ethereum Researcher Warns AI Could Threaten Wallet Signature Security Within Months

Justin Drake, a researcher at the Ethereum Foundation, urged the crypto industry to prepare for the possibility that advances in artificial intelligence could threaten digital-asset wallet security.

In a post on X on Oct. 7, Drake wrote that the industry should be ready for a scenario in which AI, ahead of quantum computers, could render ECDSA, or the Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm, ineffective within months rather than years in a worst-case scenario.

ECDSA is the signature system used by Bitcoin and Ethereum to verify that the holder of a private key approved a transaction. Assets in wallets with exposed public keys could be at risk if AI finds a way to derive private keys from those public keys, Drake said.

He cited recent advances in AI-driven mathematical research as the basis for the warning. "Over the past few days, there have been developments that humble human mathematical intuition," Drake wrote. "Hypotheses that had long been accepted without question are collapsing." He added that the rich mathematical structure of elliptic curves could offer clues for new attack methods.

As a response, he proposed a "controlled mass migration" of assets to new addresses whose public keys have not been exposed. Addresses that have never signed a transaction keep their public keys hidden behind a hash, reducing the risk of attacks that depend on public-key exposure. He also said Ethereum should accelerate its shift to hash-based cryptography.

Still, Drake described the comments as personal guidance on a potential risk, not an announcement that the current signature system has already been broken. A rushed migration would do more harm than good, he wrote, stressing careful, gradual preparation over fear-driven action.