OP Stack releases quantum-safe roadmap: Ethereum and superchains plan to deprecate ECDSA accounts within 10 years

On January 15, news broke that as the long-term risks of quantum computing are gradually recognized by the encryption industry, OP Labs officially announced the “Post-Quantum Security Roadmap for Superchains,” clearly stating that external accounts (EOA) based on ECDSA will be phased out over the next 10 years to build a quantum-resilient infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem and OP Stack.

OP Labs pointed out that although large-scale quantum computers have not yet been realized, once the existing cryptographic systems are broken, the failure of signature and commitment mechanisms could cause systemic shocks to Ethereum and superchains. Therefore, proactive planning for post-quantum (Post-Quantum, PQ) migration has become a necessary choice. Thanks to the modular architecture of OP Stack, core signature schemes can be replaced via hard forks without reconstructing the underlying system.

According to the plan, with governance approval, by January 2036, the OP mainnet and the entire superchain will stop accepting ECDSA-signed EOA transactions. All existing EOAs will need to migrate their key management permissions to smart contract accounts that support post-quantum signatures. This process will be facilitated by account abstraction mechanisms; OP Stack already supports EIP-7702, allowing users to upgrade without changing addresses or transferring assets.

During the transition period, EOAs can gradually delegate transaction authorization to smart accounts that verify post-quantum signatures; after the window closes, the protocol layer will only accept accounts supporting PQ. The specific post-quantum signature scheme has not yet been finalized; OP Labs stated that they will continue to evaluate NIST standardized schemes and maintain flexibility through upgradeable smart account designs.

Beyond the user layer, OP Stack also plans to upgrade the sequencer and batch submitter, transitioning from ECDSA signatures to post-quantum algorithms, and implementing this across the entire superchain synchronously. At a higher level, OP Labs also calls on the Ethereum community to establish a long-term post-quantum migration timeline for validator BLS signatures and KZG commitments.

OP Labs emphasized that this announcement aims to set expectations in advance rather than implement immediate changes. Future plans include providing clear migration guidelines and tools for wallets, infrastructure, and applications built on OP Stack, ensuring a smooth and secure evolution of the superchain into the post-quantum era.