Charles Hoskinson Disputes Vitalik Buterin’s Warning Against Lattice Cryptography

Hoskinson argues that decades of lattice cryptanalysis already inform ML-KEM and ML-DSA security parameters, challenging Vitalik's fears. Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson on October 9 rejected Vitalik Buterin’s warning that AI-accelerated math could weaken lattice-based cryptography. At stake is whether Ethereum’s hash-only roadmap rests on better evidence than the lattice schemes it avoids, and Hoskinson argues that it does not. Hoskinson Challenges Buterin’s Case Against Lattice Cryptography In a lengthy post on X, Hoskinson challenged the mathematical reasoning behind Buterin’s earlier warning, arguing that the Ethereum co-founder has not identified a credible attack capable of breaking lattice-based cryptography. “The case against lattices is the GNFS story, a.k.a. a hunch about ‘structure,’ and a multiplier pulled out of thin air,” the Cardano founder wrote. Buterin’s argument draws on the history of integer factorization, where decades of research produced the General Number Field Sieve (GNFS), which made factoring large numbers far more efficient than initially expected. According to him, AI could discover comparable shortcuts for lattice problems, forcing developers to inc...