Ethereum Foundation launches Post‑Quantum security team and $2M funding push

The Ethereum Foundation has made post‑quantum (PQ) security a strategic priority, creating a dedicated Post‑Quantum team led by cryptographic engineer Thomas Coratger. The initiative includes biweekly developer sessions (hosted by researcher Antonio Sanso), weekly interoperability calls, and multi‑client PQ consensus testnets that are already live. The Foundation committed $2 million in targeted prizes — a $1 million Poseidon Prize to harden the Poseidon zk‑SNARK‑friendly hash and a $1 million Proximity Prize to advance broader post‑quantum cryptography research. Planned activities include a dedicated PQ event in October, a PQ day in March ahead of EthCC, and enterprise educational materials. Workstreams focus on protocol‑level cryptographic tools, account abstraction pathways, signature aggregation via leanVM (a minimalist zkVM), and developer tooling for gradual, multi‑year transitions. The move responds to the “harvest now, decrypt later” threat: recorded transactions that could be decrypted by future quantum computers. While experts say quantum‑capable machines that break current crypto remain years or decades away, the Foundation aims to start transitions early to protect cryptographic primitives on Ethereum. For traders, this is a structural, long‑term security initiative rather than an immediate protocol change. Expect potential future wallet and infrastructure software updates as PQ standards are adopted; the announcement signals stronger institutional and developer confidence in Ethereum’s long‑term resilience but is unlikely to trigger near‑term price moves.