Coinbase: PoS Chains like Ethereum and Solana Face Quantum Risks

On April 22, Decrypt reported that Coinbase’s Independent Advisory Council on Quantum Computing and Blockchain released a report stating that Proof of Stake (PoS) blockchains may face greater exposure to future quantum computing attacks, as the cryptography relied upon for the validator signatures that protect these networks could eventually be broken by sufficiently powerful quantum computers. The report highlighted that PoS networks like Ethereum and Solana depend on cryptographic signatures—Ethereum validators use BLS signatures, while Solana validators and users utilize Ed25519 signatures—to achieve consensus on blocks and maintain network agreement. The advisory council stated, “PoS chains have exposure risks in the signature schemes used by validators to secure the network, meaning that the challenges faced by PoS are not just about upgrading wallets; parts of the core consensus mechanism itself may need to be redesigned.” The report mentioned recent work by Ethereum developers, including a proposal by co-founder Vitalik Buterin in February to replace BLS validator signatures, KZG commitments, and ECDSA wallet signatures with quantum-resistant alternatives. The council also identified digital signatures used in crypto wallets as another major long-term vulnerability, estimating that approximately 6.9 million bitcoins belong to public keys that are already visible on-chain. The report concluded that the current cryptocurrency system remains secure, as quantum computers capable of breaking modern cryptographic signatures do not yet exist.