Ethereum Foundation Activates “Post-Quantum” Engineering Team; ETH Holds $2,940
The Foundation appoints Thomas Coratger to lead a new engineering unit tasked with shipping quantum-resistant upgrades before 2028, allocating $2M in grants to accelerate the transition.
The Ethereum Foundation has formally transitioned post-quantum security from a research topic to an immediate engineering directive, establishing a dedicated unit led by Thomas Coratger. The move, confirmed Saturday, marks the network’s aggressive pivot to neutralize quantum computing threats well before the projected 2028 danger zone.
Under the technical guidance of leanVM cryptographer Emile, the new team is tasked with moving zero-knowledge (ZK) and signature schemes off the whiteboard and into client code. The Foundation signaled this shift is no longer theoretical, launching bi-weekly developer execution calls and a multi-client consensus testnet designed specifically to break, and fix, current encryption standards.
Ethereum is transitioning from a long-term background research phase to proactive engineering implementation.
The Engineering Sprint
The initiative effectively operationalizes Justin Drake’s “Lean Ethereum” roadmap, which identified quantum resistance as a non-negotiable upgrade for the network’s survival. To accelerate the timeline, the Foundation allocated two separate $1 million cryptographic awards for creating production-ready post-quantum signature verification algorithms.
This urgency aligns with Vitalik Buterin’s late-2025 warning that elliptic curve cryptography, the math securing every current wallet, could face viable quantum decryption attempts by the next U.S. presidential election cycle. The new unit’s mandate is clear: shipping a “quantum-hardened” consensus layer is now a critical path item, not a distant milestone.
Market Reaction
Markets absorbed the news with caution as traders weighed the long-term security benefits against the technical risks of a major protocol overhaul. Ether (ETH) slid 1.9% to trade at $2,943, underperforming a flat broader market. While the announcement solidifies Ethereum’s institutional longevity narrative, short-term volume remains muted as liquidity providers assess the implementation risks of the forthcoming “Lean” upgrades.
