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Bitcoin and Ether holders are urged to consider stronger security measures after an Ethereum researcher warned that advances in artificial intelligence could eventually threaten the cryptography that protects crypto wallets. Justin Drake, an Ethereum researcher, has urged the blockchain industry to calmly prepare for what he calls “bunker mode,” although no practical AI attack has been demonstrated that could break Bitcoin or Ethereum wallet keys.
Drake's warning focuses on the mathematical systems used to protect private keys. In a worst-case scenario, he believes advances in AI-assisted mathematics could let attackers find shortcuts to recovering private keys from exposed public keys much sooner than expected.
Crypto wallets rely on public and private keys to authorize transactions. While public keys can be shared, private keys must remain secret since possession of one allows the holder to control the associated funds.
Drake's concern is that increasingly capable AI systems could eventually find mathematical weaknesses humans haven't discovered. In an extreme scenario, he suggested the threat could emerge within months rather than years. However, that remains a warning about a possible future development, not evidence that current Bitcoin or Ethereum encryption has been broken.
The concern follows recent demonstrations of AI models solving increasingly difficult mathematical problems, prompting researchers to reconsider assumptions about the strength of widely used cryptographic systems.
Drake has recommended that large cryptocurrency holders gradually move assets to fresh addresses whose public keys have never appeared on the blockchain. The idea is to limit what an attacker could learn if someone ever discovered a way to derive private keys from public keys.
The recommendation is particularly relevant for older Bitcoin addresses and Ethereum accounts that have already exposed their public keys through transactions.
However, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has urged caution. He agreed that AI-related risks to cryptography deserve serious attention but warned users against rushing into large-scale wallet migrations, since mistakes during transfers could create losses of their own.
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The crypto industry has spent years preparing for the possibility that quantum computers could eventually break some of the cryptographic systems used by digital currencies. Drake now argues that rapid AI progress could become another concern.
AI already helps identify software vulnerabilities. Researchers have demonstrated that advanced models can find flaws in simulated decentralized-finance contracts, while AI-assisted security reviews have also uncovered vulnerabilities in crypto-related software.
Still, experts remain divided over the timeline. No practical AI attack has currently been demonstrated against Bitcoin or Ethereum wallet cryptography. The debate is therefore less about an immediate threat and more about whether blockchain networks should accelerate their preparations for a future in which increasingly capable AI systems challenge existing security assumptions.
