Ethereum Researcher Hopes to Finish Quantum Transition by 2028

Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake said Tuesday he hopes Ethereum will complete its post-quantum and post-AI transition by December 2028, an aspiration that comes ahead of the Foundation’s existing timetable for quantum resistance.

“Our hope is that by December 2028 we’ll be able to wrap up the full post-quantum and post-AI transition,” Drake said at Devcon 8’s opening ceremony in Mumbai.

The Ethereum Foundation Protocol Cluster’s Sept. 7 plan sets December 2029 as a self-imposed target for quantum resistance across Ethereum’s execution, consensus and data layers. Drake’s 2028 statement refers to a full transition that includes post-AI work, so the two dates describe different scopes. His remark does not replace the Foundation’s published target.

The Foundation’s plan lays out staged development. An initial post-quantum milestone would combine a consensus heartbeat, leanDA data sampling and leanSPHINCS transactions on the execution layer. The roadmap places full resistance later in the fork sequence and says that order could change.

The Foundation plans to reassess quantum progress in January 2027. The 2029 quantum-resistance target and draft post-quantum key registry have different scopes: the target spans all three protocol layers, while the registry proposal focuses on consensus security.