$ETH devs filed a draft EIP to replace the validator deposit contract, expanding key size limits to 8,192 bytes and adding a switch to permanently retire BLS signatures

Quantum computers cannot yet break a #blockchain , but #Ethereum developers are not waiting for one to try.

A draft proposal filed Monday to the $ETH Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) repository calls for rebuilding the contract through which users join the network's staking system, with the specific goal of making room for cryptographic formats a quantum machine could not crack.

Staking on Ethereum requires locking up $ETH through a deposit contract. That contract currently accepts only keys formatted under the BLS12-381 scheme, and the exact dimensions of those keys are written directly into the code. Public keys are fixed at 48 bytes and signature metadata at 96 bytes. Post-quantum schemes need far more space, and the existing contract offers none..