Ethereum Forms Post-Quantum Security Team, commits $2M as Quantum Timelines Speed Up

Key Takeaways:

• Ethereum Foundation has integrated post-quantum security as one of their major priorities creating a special team in 2026.
• The lead is being taken by Thomas Coratger, and supported by leanVM, followed by live PQ devnets and biweekly core dev meetings.
• EF is committing $2M in cryptography prizes and rolling out research, testing, and education in parallel.

The Ethereum Foundation is moving from quiet research into full execution as concerns around quantum computing grow louder. A new Post-Quantum Security team is now live, signaling a network-wide push to future-proof Ethereum’s cryptography.

Ethereum Elevates Post-Quantum Security to Core Strategy

Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake confirmed that post-quantum security has shifted from long-term research to an active engineering priority. The new Post-Quantum (PQ) team is led by cryptographic engineer Thomas Coratger, with Emile, one of the core contributors to leanVM playing a central role.

leanVM sits at the center of Ethereum’s PQ approach. It is designed to support hash-based cryptography and zero-knowledge systems that remain secure even if today’s elliptic curve signatures are broken. Drake described leanVM as the cryptographic backbone for Ethereum’s entire post-quantum transition.

Work on quantum resistance inside Ethereum is not new. Early research dates back to 2019, but momentum increased sharply in 2024 when PQ became a core pillar of the leanEthereum roadmap. Now, in 2026, Ethereum is accelerating timelines and pushing toward production-ready solutions.

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From Research to Live Devnets and Protocol Changes

Ethereum’s post-quantum plan focuses on execution rather than theory. Multi-client PQ consensus devnets are already running, with participation from both new and established client teams, including Lighthouse and Grandine, with Prysm expected to follow.

Protocol-level Ssecurity Upgrades in Progress

Antonio Sanso will begin biweekly All Core Devs breakout calls focused entirely on PQ transactions. These sessions target user-facing security upgrades, including protocol precompiles, account abstraction paths, and longer-term transaction signature aggregation using leanVM.

The goal is clear: allowing a future transition progress without negative impact on wallets, halting the chain or putting users’ assets into risks. Ethereum’s challenge is not only cryptographic strength but also coordinating a global-size upgrade between clients, validators and wallets.

$2M in Cryptography Funding and Global Coordination

Ethereum Foundation is backing its strategy by financial resource, with implementing two $1 research initiatives. The newly announced Poseidon award aims to increase hash-based cryptographic research.

Not stopping at sponsorship, Ethereum also expands the cooperation and education activities. A 3-day post-quantum (PQ) conference is expected to be organized in October, continuing the event at Cambridge last year. Moreover, a 1-day PQ seminar will also take place at Cannes, right before EthCC in March.

Relating to research, recent steps show that the development speed of this field is significantly increasing. Drake highlighted that a specialized mathematical AI system had finished a formal proof for a complex hash-based SNARK lemma in a single eight-hour run at minimal cost. Such tools can reduce years of cryptographic work into weeks.

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