Vitalik Buterin says there’s a ‘good chance’ AI could break lattice cryptography within two years

For years, the big scary threat to crypto security has been the quantum computer. Vitalik Buterin now says it may have company. On October 7, 2026, the Ethereum co-founder warned that AI-driven advances in mathematics could weaken lattice-based cryptography. He said there is a “good chance” that lattice security could be compromised within the next two years. What Buterin actually said Buterin’s warning centers on lattice-based cryptography. This family of math underpins several systems built specifically to survive the quantum era. He named two systems in particular that could be significantly undermined: ML-DSA and Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE). ML-DSA is a digital signature scheme designed to resist quantum attacks. FHE is a technique that lets computers run calculations on encrypted data without ever decrypting it. Buterin also flagged a growing risk to ECDSA signatures, which sit alongside the quantum threat. ECDSA is the signature system that crypto wallets commonly use to authorize transactions. He highlighted that the danger rises as public keys become exposed on-chain. Don’t panic, but do switch locks Despite the alarming timeline, Buterin urged people not to make pan...