Ethlabs Proposes Moving Ethereum's Post-Quantum Upgrade Forward to 2027, Delaying Block-Time Speedup Plan

November 12 — Ethlabs, an independent non-profit Ethereum research and development organization, posted on the Ethereum Magicians forum proposing that Ethereum achieve quantum resistance and resistance to AI threats by 2027, a goal dubbed "pqai27." The post notes that AI capabilities are currently exploding exponentially, the timeline for quantum computing is also moving forward, and AI is accelerating the discovery of software vulnerabilities. Ethlabs argues that, in the face of increasingly powerful cyberattack capabilities, Ethereum must minimize its cryptographic assumptions and strengthen the network through formal verification and client diversity in order to maintain its position as the trusted decentralized trust foundation of the global economy.

To achieve this goal, Ethlabs suggests reconsidering the upcoming hard fork: withdrawing the "Quick Slots" feature originally planned for the Hegotá fork, which aimed to shorten block times, concentrating resources on pqai27 instead, and planning to advance Quick Slots in 2028. The post proposes a two-step approach: first, achieving "pqai-ready," meaning the consensus layer is quantum-resistant and users have a quantum-resistant account path; second, "pqai-scaled," meaning L1 and DA support quantum-resistant transactions and blobs at full capacity, which is the scaling goal for 2027.