Ethereum L1 drops Poseidon in post-quantum move

Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake has said the network’s layer 1 will leave Poseidon after an eight-year, eight-figure research effort and pursue established hash functions such as SHA-2 or BLAKE2s. Summary Ethereum’s L1 roadmap will use traditional hashes instead of the SNARK-focused Poseidon function. Binary-field SNARKs can reportedly prove about 1 million traditional hash calls per second. A production-grade leanVM is scheduled for 2027, followed by layer deployments in 2028. Hash-based signatures form a central part of Ethereum’s planned protection against quantum computers. Ethereum L1 turns away from Poseidon Justin Drake said in an Aug. 13 X post that the Ethereum Foundation is abandoning Poseidon for its L1 roadmap and moving toward traditional options such as SHA or BLAKE. “Goodbye, Poseidon!” Drake wrote, describing the decision as the result of an “8-year, 8-figure rabbit hole” in post-quantum cryptography. Goodbye, Poseidon!An epic 8-year, 8-figure rabbit hole in post-quantum cryptography reaches its dream conclusion. The Ethereum Foundation is abandoning Poseidon for L1, pivoting to SHA or BLAKE. This milestone unlocks ultimate security for lean Ethereum and...