Key facts
- The Ethereum Foundation is moving away from the Poseidon hash function in its post-quantum architecture.
- Researcher Justin Drake stated that advances in SNARKs have made conventional hashes efficient enough.
- Established alternatives like SHA or BLAKE will be used instead of Poseidon.
- The leanVM system, intended for future post-quantum use, is targeted for a 2027 production release.
- Deployments across Ethereum's consensus, data, and execution layers are tentatively planned for 2028.
The Ethereum Foundation is discontinuing its use of the Poseidon hash function for its planned post-quantum architecture, according to researcher Justin Drake. Drake announced on Thursday that the foundation is opting for established alternatives such as SHA or BLAKE, as recent advancements in SNARKs technology have diminished Poseidon's previous performance advantage.
Hash functions are critical for verifying data integrity. Poseidon had been considered for future systems like leanVM, which aims to efficiently verify large volumes of blockchain activity, though these systems are not yet deployed on the mainnet. Drake explained that improvements in SNARKs mean conventional hashes can now perform efficiently enough to replace Poseidon in these planned systems.
The development of a production-ready leanVM is targeted for 2027, with subsequent deployments across Ethereum’s consensus, data, and execution layers anticipated in 2028, though these dates are preliminary. Sreeram Kannan, founder and CEO of Eigen Labs, noted that established hash-based systems benefit from fewer known attack vectors and can be deployed more rapidly due to years of scrutiny. Kannan also mentioned that collaborative efforts with the Ethereum Foundation and zero-knowledge proof company Succinct have resulted in a 2.5-fold increase in proving speeds.