Ethlabs drops Quick Slots for proposed 2027 security roadmap

Ethlabs will withdraw its Quick Slots proposal from Ethereum’s planned Hegotá upgrade and redirect resources to pqai27, a proposed roadmap targeting initial post-quantum readiness in 2027. Ethereum core developers have not approved the broader plan, which would reorder development priorities around cryptographic security and account migration.

Quick Slots, also known as EIP8198, would shorten Ethereum’s block-production interval from 12 seconds to 10 seconds. Ethlabs said it still intends to pursue faster slots in 2028, but wants development work focused first on the proposed security transition.

The pqai27 plan sets out two stages. The initial milestone, called pqaiready, would make consensus post-quantum and provide users with a route to move accounts to post-quantum authentication. Ethereum could continue operating if existing cryptography became vulnerable, though potentially at reduced capacity. A later pqaiscaled stage would aim to support post-quantum transactions and data availability at full network capacity.

Ethlabs argues that quantum computing could eventually undermine current cryptographic systems and that increasingly capable artificial intelligence could help...