Ethereum's Justin Drake urges "bunker mode" over AI wallet threat

The debate is notable because the two researchers land in different places from the same worry. Drake's recommendation is behavioral and immediate: move funds to addresses that have never signed, so only the public key's hash is exposed. Buterin's reply accepts the concern but pushes back on speed, citing his own losses from botched migrations rather than hacks. His longer-term position is architectural: rely as much as possible on hash functions alone, because even lattice-based schemes, often considered quantum-safe, could be weakened by advances in AI.

The caution is grounded in a simple fact: so far, no one has actually broken the current ECDSA signature scheme in practice. That gap between theoretical exposure and observed breakage is likely why Buterin frames rushed changes as a real risk of their own.