Ethereum abandons its 8-year cryptography bet after proof systems flip the tradeoff
Ethereum is dropping its long-standing reliance on the Poseidon hash function after advancements in binary-field proofs made SHA and BLAKE viable alternatives for its next layer-1 upgrade.
Ethereum is abandoning its eight-year cryptography bet after advancements in proof systems shifted the tradeoff. Faster binary-field proofs now make SHA and BLAKE practical for a future Layer 1, without declaring the Poseidon hash function broken. The change reflects evolving cryptographic priorities, not a security flaw in Poseidon. The announcement was first reported by CryptoSlate.