Drake urges gradual crypto wallet precautions over AI risk

Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake has urged cryptocurrency holders to prepare for a possible artificial intelligence-driven threat to wallet security, recommending a gradual transfer of funds to fresh addresses whose public keys have not been exposed. He said an ECDSA break could occur within months in a worst-case scenario, but no practical attack has been demonstrated. Drake’s warning concerns the Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm, or ECDSA, which is used to authorize transactions on Bitcoin and Ethereum. A private key signs a transaction, while the corresponding public key allows the network to verify it. Drake said an attacker who could recover a private key from an exposed public key might take control of the associated funds. He described a break as fast private-key recovery using available hardware, not as an attack that has occurred. In a post on October 7, Drake recommended that large and sophisticated holders move assets first to addresses that have never signed a transaction. Once an address signs, he advised moving any remaining funds to another fresh address.