Cardano founder Charles Hawkinson challenges Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin to discuss the threat

Carlos Hawkinson refutes Vitalik Buterin's warning that AI threatens lattice cryptography

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson refutes warnings from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, who claims that artificial intelligence may reveal major weaknesses in lattice-based cryptography. Hoskinson pointed out that decades of research have tested grid systems against known attacks and shaped current security parameters. He questioned Buterin's proposal to increase the trellis key size by 10 times, saying the proposal lacked support for attack cost calculations. In addition, Hoskinson challenged Ethereum's strategy of relying solely on hashes and warned not to abandon ML-KEM until an actual attack is discovered.

Analysis of mathematical breakthrough hypotheses and existing system weaknesses

Hoskinson believes that Buterin's concerns rely on assumptions about mathematical breakthroughs rather than proven weaknesses in existing cryptographic systems. Buterin has suggested that artificial intelligence may discover previously unknown weaknesses in lattice-based cryptography within two years. Hoskinson compares this possibility with advances in integer factorization technology, which ultimately makes older RSA security assumptions less reliable. However, Hoskinson rejects the analogy, arguing that breakthroughs in decomposition techniques rely on specific mathematical properties that researchers identify and utilize.

He explained that trellis cryptography has gone through decades of research, including improvements in the algorithms used to attack these systems. According to Hoskinson, the security parameters of ML-KEM and ML-DSA already take into account the established attack and its computational cost. He also challenged Buterin's claim that grid-based encryption keys might need to be expanded tenfold. "Multiplying the key size by ten is digital superstition," Hoskinson wrote, emphasizing that changes in parameters must follow measurable improvements in the attack method. He explained that under some assumptions, a 20% increase in attack efficiency may require approximately 25% larger dimensions.

Failure cases and test procedures for post-quantum candidates

This controversy occurs as Cardano continues to research anti-quantum security. In May, Hoskinson confirmed that Cardano was preparing a governance strategy to address future quantum computing threats. Hoskinson also defended the existing cryptographic system testing process, pointing to early attacks discovered during security reviews. He cited the failure cases of two post-quantum candidates, Rainbow and SIKE, whose weaknesses emerged in public evaluations. These cases show that researchers can detect vulnerabilities before affected cryptographic methods are widely deployed. Hoskinson insists that new AI-assisted attacks should undergo similar testing before developers abandon established security methods.

Questions about Ethereum's hash security strategy

分歧还涉及Ethereum日益增长的基于哈希的密码学偏好，Buterin认为这种方法较少暴露于某些数学攻击之下。Buterin曾辩称，人工智能可以加速数学研究，从而削弱以前被认为对量子计算机具有抵抗力的基于格系统。他的Ethereum安全路线图更加强调基于哈希的签名，包括WOTS和SPHINCS。然而，Hos金森质疑基于哈希的系统本质上更安全的假设，因为它们似乎包含较少的可利用数学结构。

Buterin提到了针对MD5和SHA-1的历史攻击，认为哈希函数也遭受了严重的安全失败。Hoskinson进一步质疑Ethereum对Poseidon和Poseidon2的依赖，这些设计使用了旨在实现高效密码证明的数学结构。他认为，这些设计也需要仔细的安全分析，因为它们的代数属性可能成为未来攻击的目标。随着Ethereum继续开发抗量子升级以及隐私和交易验证的改进，批评也随之而来。

避免过早放弃格密码学

Buterin also recommends caution when using older wallet addresses, although he warns against rushing into potentially unsafe migrations. Hoskinson raised a separate concern that the adoption of lattice-based encryption should not be discouraged until researchers determine actual weaknesses. He pointed out that hybrid ML-KEM deployments in browsers and messaging applications combine traditional encryption and post-quantum protection. According to Hoskinson, unnecessary suspicion of these systems could delay upgrades while organizations will continue to rely on older cryptographic methods.

The debate continues as Ethereum developers work to pass planned post-quantum security upgrades in 2029. Hoskinson insists that security decisions should be based on tested attacks, measurable costs, and actual deployment requirements, rather than predictions of AI breakthroughs.