Vitalik Buterin backs crypto ‘bunker mode’ amid rapid AI math advances

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has backed a new warning that advances in artificial intelligence could undermine the cryptography used in today’s blockchains before quantum computers do. 

Buterin was responding to a post from Ethereum researcher Justin Drake on Wednesday urging the industry to prepare for “bunker mode,” as AI could eventually make it possible to break the elliptic curve digital signature algorithm (ECDSA) used to secure cryptocurrency wallets. Drake said users should begin a gradual migration of funds to fresh wallets where their public key is not exposed.

“I don’t recommend anyone scramble to move their funds to new wallets today,” Buterin wrote. “But we should take the risks to cryptography from AI-accelerated math seriously.”

Drake said his concerns came after OpenAI released hundreds of new mathematical findings across a variety of topics such as algebra, theoretical computer science and mathematical logic on Tuesday, revealing how quickly AI has been advancing in mathematics. 

Last month the company used a team of 10,000 autonomous AI agents working in parallel to solve the Navier-Stokes equation, one of the most famous and difficult unsolved problems in mathematics and physics, in just 88 hours.