Vitalik Buterin backs EIP-8288 to aggregate signatures and proofs in Ethereum's mempool
The draft would let nodes combine user-generated proofs into one recursive STARK per block, aiming to cut verification costs for post-quantum signatures.
ETHEREUM
Daniel Hartley
10/19/20261 min read
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin is promoting EIP-8288, a draft proposal for in-mempool signature and proof aggregation that he co-authored with researcher Thomas Coratger on June 3, 2026. The design would let Ethereum verify complex cryptography without adding a new precompile for every signature or proof system. Buterin presented the idea at ETHTaipei 2026 and called for EIP-8288 maximalism on X.
Under the draft, users generate signatures or proofs locally, and transactions declare which statements must be verified. Nodes aggregate the proofs in the mempool at 1,000-millisecond intervals, and block builders include one recursive STARK covering the block. Each transaction can declare up to 16 signature dependencies and one STARK dependency, and the original signatures do not have to be published as ordinary calldata.
The proposal targets the cost of quantum-resistant signatures, which today need about 2–3 KB and 150,000–200,000 gas to verify directly. Under the draft, verification would cost 3,000 gas for leanSPHINCS signatures and 30,000 gas for leanSTARK proofs. EIP-8288 builds on EIP-8141 and would need a coordinated network upgrade. No activation date has been approved, and no client team has committed to it.
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