Ethereum researchers warn AI could crack Bitcoin, Ethereum wallets within months

Ethereum researchers have raised concerns that advances in artificial intelligence could compromise the cryptographic signatures securing Bitcoin and Ethereum wallets within months, not years, in the most severe scenario. This risk, they claim, could emerge well before the development of practical quantum computers.

Experts debate blockchain security models

Blockstream CEO Adam Back strongly criticized the original architecture decisions of Ethereum’s early developers, following the AI warning. Back argued that the team behind Ethereum demonstrated inexperience, stating that they rebuilt their protocol “around an obviously broken architecture” despite warnings from others in the industry.

Back praised the technical foresight of Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, pointing to the Unspent Transaction Output (UTXO) model chosen for the Bitcoin network. He believes that this design displayed a deeper grasp of distributed systems and peer-to-peer networks.

It’s almost like Satoshi knew something about distributed systems, Back wrote, making the case that Bitcoin’s UTXO model offers structural advantages.

The UTXO model, utilized by Bitcoin and Cardano, functions similarly to physical cash, where distinct coins or outputs are spent and replaced by new ones after each transaction. This approach is fundamentally different from Ethereum’s account-based model.