顶尖专家警告：人工智能突破或威胁椭圆曲线密码学

Experts in the field of encryption warn that advancements in AI could threaten the security of elliptic curve cryptography.

Researchers and security experts in the cryptocurrency industry are increasingly warning that advances in artificial intelligence (AI) technology could lead to the cracking of encryption signatures used in most blockchain networks. The concern is that complex AI algorithms might be able to identify mathematical vulnerabilities in elliptic curve cryptography, thereby compromising the private keys that control billions of dollars’ worth of digital assets.

Warnings about AI-driven attacks

Justin Drake, a researcher at Ethereum, suggests that given the recent developments in AI technology, the industry should consider adopting a “bunker mode” approach. He believes that AI could accelerate the discovery of attack methods that could disrupt encryption systems. Drake has made significant contributions to the development of the Ethereum protocol. He pointed out that AI might use conventional computing techniques to uncover security flaws in ECC, regardless of the threat posed by future quantum computers.

He called for the orderly migration of encrypted assets to new blockchain addresses with unexposed public keys, thereby limiting the information that potential attackers can access. Drake said, “The pace of AI advancements is terrifying—it’s enough to make us start planning for the worst-case scenario.” He warned that the mathematical structure of elliptic curves makes them particularly vulnerable to AI-driven attacks, thereby increasing the risk for networks that rely on this technology.

Matthew Green, a professor of cryptography at Johns Hopkins University, also believes that public key cryptography faces risks. He stated that the community may encounter situations where the fundamental security assumptions no longer hold, sooner than many expect.

However, there are also voices calling for restraint. Yehuda Lindell, the head of cryptography at Coinbase, believes that there is no credible evidence to suggest that the underlying mathematics of ECC has been weakened. Lucien Bourdon, a Bitcoin analyst at Trezor, also downplayed these imminent risks. He pointed out that the latest mathematical research paper by OpenAI does not mention any successful attacks on ECDSA, the signature scheme used in Bitcoin and Ethereum.

The limitations of defensive measures and technical solutions are significant.

Zach Herbert, CEO and co-founder of FoundationHQ, warned that if a user’s extended public key is shared with wallet applications or service providers, transferring coins to a new address might not be sufficient to protect the user. In such cases, attackers could regenerate all relevant addresses, rendering the migration ineffective.

Taylor Monahan, founder and CEO of MetaMask, noted that if ECC becomes vulnerable in practice, attackers could even recover private keys directly from hardware wallets. Eli Ben-Sasson, CEO of StarkWare, a Ethereum Layer 2 solution, said that the risks extend beyond wallet signatures to components at the infrastructure level, such as blockchain consensus mechanisms and critical data processing algorithms like the Kate-Zaverucha-Goldberg (KZG) polynomial commitment scheme.

Quick Reference: KZG Polynomial Commitment Scheme
This is an encryption protocol designed for Ethereum, used to securely commit and verify polynomial data. It plays a crucial role in enhancing data availability and blob storage capabilities after Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade.

Bitcoin offers additional defenses: the widely used SegWit addresses hide the public key before any funds are transferred. If the hash function remains robust, this can limit the attack window. However, Taproot addresses expose the public key directly on the chain, and if ECC is compromised, the risk increases. Bourdon advised against panic, noting that rushed migrations often lead to mistakes and make users more vulnerable to phishing attacks.

Moving towards quantum-resistant solutions is necessary.

Some blockchain protocols are already experimenting with solutions that can withstand quantum attacks and AI-powered threats. Users of the NEAR Protocol can add quantum-safe keys to their accounts by integrating software based on lattice cryptography, such as the Meteor wallet. Ethereum’s roadmap includes schemes for hash-based signatures, zero-knowledge proof aggregation, and emergency hard forks to restore stolen funds. Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, proposed a solution involving zero-knowledge proofs to roll back affected blocks and restore users’ balances.

Max Shannon, senior research assistant at Bitwise Europe, stated that these solutions are still in the planning stage, with no timeline for implementation. He suggested that users consider transitioning to quantum-safe signatures in the long term, but noted that there are currently no threats to ECC from attacks.

行业反应仍存分歧

先进签名方案（如Starknet的账户抽象）的开发人员声称，他们的系统允许用户在不移除资金的情况下更改与其账户关联的安全算法。然而，Ben-Sasson警告说，技术堆栈的其他部分仍然依赖于可能易受攻击的组件，这些组件通常与Ethereum的安全保证相关联。

并非所有专家都确信需要采取激进行动。“现在什么都不用做，”Bourdon评论道，强调计划不周的迁移可能会造成比好事更多的伤害。他还质疑，警告一个未经证实的威胁是否可能间接促进Ethereum向更先进的密码学迈进。

Despite these warnings, there is currently no evidence indicating that ECDSA algorithm is about to be cracked. Experts urge caution, as rushing into action could expose users to unnecessary risks. As the debate continues, many people agree on the importance of researching solutions that can withstand quantum attacks and AI-based threats. However, it seems that widespread updates or large-scale asset migrations are not necessary at this time. If the cryptography used in cryptocurrency wallets and blockchain infrastructure becomes vulnerable, it would pose an unprecedented challenge to the entire industry.