Ethlabs urges Ethereum to bring post-quantum security forward to 2027 and says it will pull the faster-blocks proposal it backed

Ethlabs, a nonprofit Ethereum research group, proposed on November 11, 2026, that Ethereum become post-quantum, meaning resistant to attacks by quantum computers, in 2027. It said it will withdraw Quick Slots, a proposal for faster blocks that it had pushed for, from the planned Hegotá upgrade to work on that goal. The group set out the plan, which it calls "pqai27," in a post on the Ethereum Magicians forum. It is a proposal to Ethereum's core developers, who had not adopted it as of November 12.

What Ethlabs proposes for a post-quantum Ethereum

"Post-quantum" describes cryptography designed to hold up against quantum computers, which are expected to be able to break the signature schemes that blockchains use today. Ethlabs argues that the date by which Ethereum needs that protection has become harder to predict because of progress in artificial intelligence, and that the network should therefore move early.

The post says the US government has brought its deadline for handling quantum risk forward from 2035 to 2030, and that Google has set 2029 as its own goal for becoming post-quantum. It also says AI systems are now cracking long-open problems in mathematics and uncovering security bugs in software in large numbers. "Being post-quantum is not enough, we intend on being post-AI too," the group wrote. By post-AI it means two things: cryptography that depends on the fewest possible assumptions, and client software toughened against AI models able to find bugs in bulk.

Ethlabs separates two levels for 2027:

• Ready. The consensus layer, the part of Ethereum where validators agree on blocks, uses post-quantum cryptography, and each account holder has a way to move to post-quantum protection. If current cryptography were broken early, Ethereum could move to that path and continue operating, though with less capacity.
• Scaled. The network handles post-quantum transactions and data without giving up capacity. Ethlabs calls this a stretch goal for 2027.

The group itself describes the timeline as ambitious.

What changes for the Hegotá upgrade

Hegotá is the upgrade planned after Glamsterdam. Its list of contents, which is still a draft, schedules two items for inclusion: FOCIL (Ethereum Improvement Proposal 7805, or EIP-7805), a censorship-resistance feature, and Frame Transactions (EIP-8141), which allow more flexible ways to authorize transactions from an account. Quick Slots (EIP-8198), which would reduce the slot time, the interval between blocks, from 12 seconds to 10, is on the list of items considered for inclusion.

Under the Ethlabs plan:

• Glamsterdam goes ahead on its current schedule.
• Frame Transactions stay, because Ethlabs says the 2027 goal depends on them.
• FOCIL should go into an upgrade only if that does not put the 2027 goal at risk. Ethlabs says FOCIL slows the path to post-quantum readiness, and notes that many of its members co-wrote the proposal.
• Other upgrade items that the 2027 goal does not depend on should be looked at again.
• Quick Slots is withdrawn from Hegotá. "We don't take this decision lightly," the group wrote, adding that it still believes in faster slots and will work toward them in 2028.

One of the three authors of the Quick Slots proposal, Barnabé Monnot, is listed as a team member on Ethlabs' website.

The post says the largest open question is how to make consensus post-quantum: by adapting the current protocol or by moving to a new design.

Where this stands against the current roadmap

Cointelegraph reported that core developers have not signed off on the plan and that the Ethereum Foundation's roadmap still aims for quantum resistance by December 2029. The Block gave the same date. The most recent foundation document we found, a September 7 post by its Protocol group, keeps December 2029 as the target for full quantum resistance. Ethlabs' post says the foundation had already moved its target from 2029 to 2028; it links no document for that, and we found no foundation document that gives 2028.

The foundation's post-quantum team describes a migration in stages across several upgrades and says, "We do not believe a cryptographically relevant quantum computer is imminent," while adding that the work has to start well before the threat arrives. The same page says final decisions on the protocol are made through Ethereum's open governance process, such as the All Core Devs calls.

Ethlabs describes itself as a nonprofit research and development lab for Ethereum and ether (ETH). It was founded by former Ethereum Foundation researchers and launched earlier in 2026, according to The Block.

What it could mean for traders

Nothing changes on the network today. The proposal affects the order of future upgrades, and it has to win support from client teams and core developers first.

If developers follow Ethlabs, the trade-off is that the cut in slot time from 12 to 10 seconds, which would shorten the wait for a transaction to be included in a block, comes later than its backers had sought. Other networks are working on speed as well: our report on Solana's switch to its Alpenglow consensus covers an upgrade aimed at cutting the time transactions take to become final. If developers do not follow Ethlabs, the group has already said it is taking its own resources off Quick Slots, which leaves that proposal's place in Hegotá unclear.

Ethlabs also says that at the "ready" stage, post-quantum transactions would cost more because they take up more room on the chain.

The group ties part of its case to software security in general. For a recent example of how security flaws are disclosed on another network, see our report on the three security flaws Bitcoin Core disclosed on November 10.

ETH traded at $2,043 as of 11:06 UTC on November 12, down 0.7% over 24 hours, according to CoinGecko data. We have no evidence linking that move to the proposal.

What happens next

The post asks core developers to decide first whether to commit to the 2027 goal and then to work backward from it. The points to watch are the response from client teams, whether Quick Slots and FOCIL keep their places in the Hegotá plan, and whether the Ethereum Foundation changes its published target.