'Bunker Mode': Top Ethereum Researcher Sounds Alarm Over AI Crypto Threat

Ethereum researcher Justin Drake is urging the crypto community to start planning for what he calls "bunker mode", as he claims the ever-growing leaps in AI might threaten Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other key blockchain networks.

The researcher is encouraging big and sophisticated crypto players to start thinking about a controlled movement of funds to new addresses with public keys never seen on-chain.

"Today I call upon the blockchain industry to calmly start planning for ‘bunker mode," wrote Drake.

He has proposed such a plan as a way to limit the possible fallout of a theoretical breakthrough that would make it possible to get private keys from visible public keys.

Notably, Drake asked users not to panic and move in a rush. Instead, he framed this measure as a prevention that can be done today with current wallets and crypto infrastructure.

Will AI break ECDSA?

The issue raised by Drake pertains to the Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA), a common way to approve crypto transactions.

The Ethereum researcher says that it is now time to think about a theoretical extreme case. That is, ECDSA could be broken by classical computers before we reach the power of quantum computers (usually called "Q-day").