Vitalik Buterin weighed in on Justin Drake’s call for crypto to start preparing a “bunker mode,” agreeing that AI-accelerated math is a real threat to blockchain cryptography while telling holders, “I don’t recommend anyone scramble to move their funds to new wallets today.”

What’s the Scoop?

• Bunker mode: Drake, the prolific Ethereum Foundation researcher, warned that AI-driven math could break ECDSA, the signature scheme behind most crypto wallets, before quantum computers do, “in the worst case in months not years.” He wants a calm, controlled move into fresh addresses that have never exposed their public keys.

• Also in the crosshairs: In his follow-up comments, Vitalik extended the worry to lattice schemes like ML-DSA, usually billed as quantum-safe, warning they could take “serious hits” from the next two years of AI math. He pointed to that risk as a key driver behind lean Ethereum’s “hash-only” direction.

  Enjoying this article?

  Subscribe to Bankless or sign in

  Subscribe for free

• Practical hygiene: If it’s easy, keep funds in addresses that have never sent a transaction. For multisigs, Vitalik later clarified that the ideal is each signer rotating to a new key after every operation, with signatures collected offchain.

• Mind the migrations: Moving coins carries its own danger. Vitalik noted he’s personally “lost more money in botched migrations” than in all hacks combined.