According to researcher Justin Drake, the Ethereum Foundation is dropping the Poseidon hash function from its planned post-quantum architecture.
On Thursday, Drake stated that the foundation is abandoning Poseidon and moving to proven alternatives such as SHA or BLAKE. A hash function converts information into a fixed digital fingerprint, which computers use to verify that it has not been altered.
Poseidon had been considered for future post-quantum systems, such as leanVM, which would help Ethereum efficiently verify large volumes of blockchain activity. These systems have not yet been deployed on the mainnet.
Drake stated that advances in SNARKs—compact proofs used to confirm computations without redoing the original work—allow regular hash functions to perform efficiently enough to replace Poseidon in the planned systems.
He reported that an industrial version of leanVM is planned for launch in 2027, with deployment on Ethereum's consensus, data, and execution layers targeted for 2028. These dates remain preliminary.
Eigen Labs founder and CEO Sreeram Kannan stated that systems based on proven hash functions have fewer known attack vectors compared to other post-quantum approaches. He said they can be deployed faster because they have already undergone years of validation.
Kannan reported that collaboration with the foundation and zero-knowledge proof development company Succinct has increased proof generation speed by 2.5 times.
Related: Vitalik Buterin Outlines Plan for Ethereum Quantum Resilience
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