A senior researcher at the Ethereum Foundation is calling on the blockchain industry to prepare for a scenario in which artificial intelligence, not quantum computing, becomes the first technology to shatter the cryptographic defenses protecting major cryptocurrencies.

Justin Drake, a prominent voice in Ethereum’s research community, took to X on Wednesday to urge a “controlled mass migration” of digital assets to fresh wallet addresses. The recommendation, which he described as entering “bunker mode,” stems from what he sees as an accelerating threat: AI-driven mathematical breakthroughs capable of undermining the elliptic curve digital signature algorithm, or ECDSA, used by Bitcoin and Ethereum to authorize transactions.

Drake’s…