Ethereum Drops Poseidon As SNARK Performance Improves

The quantum threat pushes Ethereum to reconsider its cryptographic choices. Poseidon, long considered as a hash function suitable for zero-knowledge proofs and the post-quantum era, has just been discarded by the network’s researchers. Behind this change lies much more than an algorithm choice. Thus, Ethereum is revising the cryptographic foundations of its future architecture. A new approach now promises better performance, enhanced auditability, and safer integration. It remains to understand why Poseidon lost the race, what gains its replacement offers, and at what pace this transition could reach the network.

The Ethereum Foundation abandons the Poseidon project in favor of historical standards

The Ethereum Foundation has undertaken a formal and significant redirection of its various research efforts. It thus abandons the Poseidon hash function featured in its post-quantum architecture plan. This is why Justin Drake, renowned researcher and key figure of this organization, attested that the foundation wishes to drop this option in order to focus now on alternatives already recognized, tested, and standardized for decades, such as the SHA or BLAKE algorithms.

In practice, the role of the hash function is to convert a set of raw data, regardless of their nature, into a fixed-size digital fingerprint. This conversion will guarantee to the computer system that the information has not been manipulated or altered. Poseidon was considered until now as a fundamental system whose role would be to equip future post-quantum mechanisms like leanVM. It is a virtual environment created for the efficient verification of large volumes of blockchain-related activity not yet deployed on the main network.

To legitimize this unexpected but deliberate decision, Justin Drake highlighted the very rapid and exponential evolution of compact proof technologies. For him, advances achieved on SNARKs, precise and highly sophisticated proofs which allow confirmation of the validity of complex calculations without re-executing all basic operations, contributed to the fading of Poseidon’s theoretical operational superiority that it had at the beginning.

The researcher then explained through statements that the execution performance of classical hash functions is now high to facilitate direct integration into systems without penalizing the network. Thus, this evolution immediately removes the industrial obligation to use recent and probably less mature cryptographic primitives against various attack threats.

Various key elements define this technological break within the protocol :

• The complete abandonment of the Poseidon function in favor of proven historical algorithms like SHA and BLAKE ;
• The cancellation of the need for experimental primitives thanks to exceptional efficiency gains brought by SNARKs ;
• The continued extension of leanVM, now based on universally recognized cryptographic standards.

Security: a priority given to proven algorithms and proof acceleration

Apart from the exclusively technical issue related to raw performance, the reasoning on theoretical security and software maturity holds a predominant place in this algorithmic migration. Sreeram Kannan, founder and CEO of Eigen Labs, provided useful clarification on such a strategic choice.

He then pointed out that infrastructures relying on established hash functions may present fewer recognized attack paths than other post-quantum approaches designed in recent years. Moreover, he emphatically indicated the traditional primitives. For him, they must be integrated very quickly by developers due to several years of thorough examination they have already undergone by the entire global scientific community.

This change cannot be made at the expense of the operational efficiency of the Ethereum network. Indeed, various research works must be conducted simultaneously by the Ethereum Foundation, the Eigen Labs teams, and the company specialized in zero-knowledge proofs Succinct. These works already offer significant and particularly promising results.

Thanks to the new optimization of data structures and computation circuits, this tripartite partnership contributed to multiplying proof generation speed by 2.5 compared to previous indicators. Such a breakthrough provides proof that it is now possible to combine the necessary processing speed for second-layer architectures with the proven durability of historical cryptographic standards.

A gradual deployment spread from 2027 to 2028 across the entire infrastructure

Regarding operational execution as well as the technical roadmap, the Ethereum Foundation has proposed concise time milestones for the overall realization of this revised infrastructure concerning the quantum threat. Thus, Justin Drake emphasizes that this fully operational version of leanVM available for a productive environment is expressly targeted for 2027. This crucial step will serve as a solid technical foundation to prepare the ground for direct implementations on the main network.

During the second phase, successive deployments are planned throughout the year 2028. It is useful to specify that such structural modifications could target all critical layers of the Ethereum protocol, such as the consensus layer responsible for block validation, the data layer dedicated to information availability, as well as the execution layer managing smart contracts and user transactions. However, the researcher reminds that all these calendar deadlines currently remain strictly preliminary. They must be subject to feedback from the test network.

By opting for the resilience of SHA and BLAKE standards over still experimental innovations, the Ethereum Foundation shows an undeniable pragmatic maturity. Thanks to the elimination of various risks of cryptographic unknowns without any concession of speed thanks to gains recorded on SNARKs, the Foundation proceeds with the secure transition of the network to the post-quantum era with confidence, ensuring the continuity of its infrastructure for years to come.