Justin Drake urges crypto users to enter ‘bunker mode’

Ethereum researcher Justin Drake has urged crypto users to prepare for “bunker mode” by gradually moving assets to new addresses. He warned that advances in artificial intelligence could weaken the elliptic curve digital signature algorithm, or ECDSA, used to secure cryptocurrency wallets.

In an X post on Wednesday, Drake wrote that ECDSA could fail before the arrival of sufficiently powerful quantum computers. In his worst-case estimate, that could happen in months rather than years.

ECDSA allows wallets to prove ownership of funds without revealing private keys. Drake warned that advances in mathematical AI could eventually help attackers recover private keys from public keys exposed on a blockchain.

“Recent days have been humbling for human mathematical intuition,” Drake wrote. He referred to OpenAI’s release on Tuesday of hundreds of mathematical findings involving algebra, theoretical computer science and mathematical logic.

Drake also cited OpenAI’s claim last month that 10,000 autonomous AI agents working in parallel solved the Navier-Stokes equation in 88 hours. The company did not provide independent verification of the claim.

Elliptic-curve systems could be exposed to breakthroughs by advanced AI because they contain mathematical structures that can be studied with methods including Schoof’s algorithm, Frobenius maps and pairings. Hash functions generally contain less algebraic structure, according to Drake.

Drake recommended a controlled, large-scale migration of crypto assets to new addresses. He advised major holders and sophisticated users to move their funds first, followed by other users in a gradual process.

For addresses that conceal public keys behind a cryptographic hash, moving funds to a new address can reduce exposure to attacks requiring access to the public key. Signing a transaction can reveal that key. Drake therefore recommended moving any remaining balance to another new address after spending from the first one.

He warned users against rushing the process. “A rushed migration would do more harm than good,” Drake wrote.