Fireblocks published an optimized EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) implementation of an ML-DSA-44 signature verifier, a lattice-based post-quantum cryptographic scheme formerly known as CRYSTALS-Dilithium and compliant with NIST’s FIPS 204 standard. Verification costs 1.23 million gas, down from ZKNox’s ETHDILITHIUM benchmark of 8.09 million gas, a 6.6-fold reduction achieved without changes to Ethereum’s protocol. The largest improvement came from optimizing SHAKE-256 hashing, which reduced its contribution from roughly 3 million to approximately 400,000 gas. Further savings came from more efficient number theoretic transform (NTT) calculations and memory expansion within the EVM. The result is below the roughly 5.73 million gas projected for ETHDILITHIUM under EIP-7885, a pending proposal for a dedicated NTT precompile. Fireblocks said an autonomous AI research team of 144 agents completed the work over nine days at an approximate cost of $7,500, producing more than 320 verification tests and 62 machine-checked arithmetic properties validated in Z3, a formal verification tool from Microsoft Research. The work fits Ethereum’s longer-term move toward account abstraction, in which smart contracts verify signatures and can deploy NIST-approved post-quantum schemes without a hard fork. Earlier in 2026, SPHINCS+-derived hash-based schemes reached costs of around 127,000 gas but faced large signature sizes and statefulness requirements, while ML-DSA remains NIST’s primary recommendation for general-purpose digital signatures.