The Ethereum Foundation is changing its long-term cryptography strategy by replacing Poseidon with SHA and BLAKE for Layer 1 development. The shift follows major advances in zero-knowledge proof technology, which now make traditional hashing methods more practical for future network upgrades.

Ethereum shifts toward established hash functions

Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake said in an August 13 post on X that the network will move away from Poseidon after years of research investment. The decision marks a significant change in Ethereum’s post-quantum security roadmap and future cryptographic architecture.

Poseidon emerged in 2019 as a specialized hash function designed for zero-knowledge proof systems. It quickly became a popular choice across zk-rollups and zkVMs that secure billions in digital assets.

However, recent breakthroughs have reduced the need for specialized cryptographic tools inside proof systems. Researchers have shown that standard hash functions can now achieve similar efficiency under newer proving frameworks.

Drake said the key breakthrough came from improving proof systems rather than designing custom hashes. As a result, SHA and BLAKE can now compete with Poseidon while also benefiting from broader security analysis.

Neither family is an untested alternative: SHA-2 underpins Bitcoin’s proof-of-work mining and the SHA-256 signatures on TLS certificates across the web, while BLAKE reached the final round of NIST’s public competition to select SHA-3. The pivot therefore points at hash families already securing mainstream internet and payments infrastructure rather than zk-specific designs.

The move affects Ethereum’s future Layer 1 roadmap rather than existing applications already using Poseidon. Current zk-based projects can continue operating without immediate protocol changes. In effect, Poseidon stays in use across the zk ecosystem even as Ethereum’s own L1 plans move on.

"Goodbye, Poseidon! An epic 8-year, 8-figure rabbit hole in post-quantum cryptography reaches its dream conclusion. The Ethereum Foundation is abandoning Poseidon for L1, pivoting to SHA or BLAKE. This milestone unlocks ultimate security for lean Ethereum and foreshadows a golden…" — Justin Drake (@drakefjustin) August 13, 2026

Binary-field research changes the equation

Ethereum’s decision follows progress in binary-field SNARKs, which handle bit-based computations more efficiently than earlier approaches. These systems align naturally with traditional hash functions used across computing environments, because SHA and BLAKE are built from bit-level operations rather than the prime-field arithmetic Poseidon was optimized for.

According to Drake, modern designs can prove roughly one million traditional hash operations per second on consumer hardware. That level of performance was previously considered unrealistic in zero-knowledge proof environments.

Research efforts such as Binius and Flock contributed to these improvements through optimized binary-field architectures. Their work significantly reduced proving costs for established cryptographic functions like SHA and BLAKE.

The development may simplify Ethereum’s security assumptions while reducing reliance on less-tested cryptographic constructions. Traditional hashes have been scrutinized for decades across academic and commercial settings.

As a result, Ethereum can focus on proven cryptographic standards while still pursuing performance goals for future network upgrades.

Post-quantum roadmap gains momentum

The strategy also supports Ethereum’s broader preparation for quantum-resistant infrastructure across the network. Developers continue to explore methods that protect blockchain systems against future advances in quantum computing. The stakes are concrete: Ethereum’s existing signatures rely on elliptic-curve cryptography, the family a sufficiently powerful quantum computer could break using Shor’s algorithm, while hash functions face only the weaker quadratic speedup of Grover’s algorithm.

Hash-based cryptography remains a central component of Ethereum’s long-term security plans, and it carries outside validation: NIST’s post-quantum standards include SLH-DSA, a stateless hash-based signature scheme finalized in 2024. In addition, proof aggregation could compress large numbers of signatures into compact proofs for efficient verification.

Drake said Ethereum’s leanVM initiative remains on track for a production-ready release in 2027. Deployments across consensus, execution, and data layers are currently targeted for 2028.

The latest roadmap reflects Ethereum’s preference for simpler and extensively tested cryptographic foundations. One detail the announcement leaves open is which of the two families — and which parameter sets — will anchor the final design. If current research progress continues, the network could strengthen security while improving scalability and future-proofing critical infrastructure.

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