Ethereum developers propose upgrade to staking contracts to resist quantum attacks.

ChainCatcher report, according to CoinDesk, Ethereum researchers have proposed rebuilding the validator deposit contract to support a new cryptographic system and ultimately cease accepting deposits protected by the current BLS signatures. The proposal targets the deposit contract, aiming to introduce a switch that prevents the network from accepting the current signature format. Currently, the contract only accepts BLS keys because their exact size is hardcoded; the new draft allows for varying key sizes, with each deposit tagged to indicate the cryptographic system used—BLS receives tag zero, leaving room for future schemes. If approved, the contract will initially continue processing BLS deposits while allowing other schemes to register simultaneously. Future decisions may permanently disable new BLS deposits, at which point validators already staking with BLS keys will remain active, but new validators will no longer be able to join using them. Ethereum will still require a separate update to inform validators how to verify the new signatures. This constitutes the validator migration component; another part is already underway—the EIP-8141 framework transaction proposal will enable standard Ethereum accounts to change their signing method without changing their address. The urgency stems from a March study released by Google Quantum AI, which mapped five quantum attack pathways targeting Ethereum, exposing over $100 billion in assets to potential risk. The Ethereum Foundation is targeting approximately 2029 for core protocol changes. Currently, around 42.4 million ETH are staked on Ethereum, valued at approximately $104 billion.