‘Begin planning for bunker mode’ – Ethereum researcher warns of AI threat to crypto

Introduction

The recent breakthrough in cryptography by OpenAI has sparked a double security threat among cryptography experts and blockchain researchers alike. The industry has long viewed quantum computers as the real threat, but this is still years away. However, the immediate AI advancement poses a significant risk to cryptocurrency security.

The Threat of AI to Crypto Security

Currently, whenever one spends their crypto, the public key becomes public and is tied to individual transfers or the wallet. With a powerful AI model or quantum computer, these can be reverse-engineered to generate a private key to crack and steal the funds. In fact, there is already speculation that there could be ongoing harvesting of public keys by threat actors as they wait for functional quantum computers or advanced AI models.

The 'Bunker Mode' Call

Ethereum researcher Justin Drake suggested that the industry should calmly begin planning for 'bunker mode.' His personal recommendation is to set in motion a controlled mass migration of assets to fresh addresses, i.e. addresses whose pubkeys remain hidden behind a hash. According to Drake, OpenAI's latest report underrepresented breakthroughs in cryptography results in its latest report, likely due to government censorship.

Divided Opinions

However, not all experts agree on the urgency of the situation. Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at VC Dragonfly, noted that 'Doomerism has now hit cryptography.' The risk is not quantum, but just conventional mathematics overturning unproven cryptographic hardness assumptions. He also suggested that the industry should focus on UTXO-mode for a while.

Ethereum Founder's Advice

Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin agreed with the call but advised against address migration. He warned that rushed migration could lead to loss of funds from misconfigured multi-sig setups, and AI will still get better at cracking alternatives too. However, he also believes that the AI advances could help researchers create better and hardened cryptography algorithms.

Conclusion

The AI advancements pose a significant threat to cryptocurrency security, and the industry should plan for 'bunker mode' to protect against potential attacks. However, not all experts agree on the urgency of the situation, and some believe that the risk is overstated or that AI will not be able to crack current blockchain cryptography for some time.