quantum

According to CoinDesk, several researchers in the fields of post-quantum cryptography and blockchain security have stated that AI is accelerating the development of quantum computing and forcing the encryption industry to reassess the reliability of existing security systems.Project Eleven CEO Alex Pruden pointed out that researchers are using machine learning to optimize quantum error correction—one of the biggest engineering bottlenecks in the field of quantum computing. NEAR Protocol co-founder and former Google AI researcher Illia Polosukhin warned that the "harvest now, decrypt later" strategy has become a real threat, where attackers collect encrypted traffic now and decrypt it later when quantum computers mature, "this is likely already happening."Since most blockchain networks rely on the same elliptic curve cryptography as the internet, once quantum computers become powerful enough, they could theoretically derive private keys from public keys, thereby compromising wallets and systems. Researchers noted that the combination of AI and quantum computing is creating a continuous arms race in security, where security measures will no longer be static infrastructure but must continuously evolve and upgrade. Currently, multiple blockchain ecosystems such as Ethereum, Solana, and NEAR are actively promoting post-quantum cryptography migration solutions.

According to Decrypt, research published by Glassnode shows that nearly one-third of circulating Bitcoin has exposed public keys, theoretically making it vulnerable to future quantum computer attacks. Specifically, about 6.04 million Bitcoins worth over $46.9 billion are at quantum risk. Among these, approximately 1.92 million are structurally exposed, originating from early "pay-to-public-key" addresses, multi-signature structures, and Taproot outputs, which are script formats that default to exposing public keys.About 4.12 million are operationally exposed, stemming from address reuse behavior. Among the Bitcoins with operational exposure, approximately 1.66 million are related to exchanges, accounting for 8.3% of the total supply and about 40% of all operationally exposed Bitcoins. From the holdings of major exchanges, only 5% of Coinbase's Bitcoins are exposed to quantum risk, while Binance and Bitfinex have exposure rates of 85% and 100%, respectively. Glassnode states that this result should not be interpreted as a risk ranking of specific companies or a signal of solvency.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced a total of $2 billion in government subsidies to nine quantum computing companies, including IBM, and will acquire equity in the related transactions. This move aims to accelerate the cultivation of the emerging quantum computing industry and promote the development of more stable and scalable quantum computing systems. The report states that this round of funding is part of the Trump administration's plan to maintain the U.S. competitive advantage in the field of frontier computing and to initiate a "new era of technological innovation."

On May 14, BNB Chain released the "BSC Post-Quantum Cryptography Migration Report," stating that it has completed the migration testing for quantum-resistant cryptography for transaction signatures and the consensus layer, using the NIST standardized post-quantum signature algorithm ML-DSA-44 (Dilithium) and the pqSTARK aggregation scheme.The report shows that BSC has replaced transaction signatures from ECDSA to ML-DSA-44 and switched consensus voting aggregation from BLS12-381 to pqSTARK to address the potential threats posed by future quantum computing to the existing elliptic curve cryptography system. However, post-quantum signatures also significantly increase the on-chain data volume: the size of a single transaction has increased from about 110 bytes to approximately 2.5KB; the block size in a 2000 TPS scenario has increased from about 130KB to around 2MB; and the TPS in the testing environment has decreased by about 40%-50%.BSC stated that the current network bottleneck mainly comes from the larger transaction data propagation, rather than the consensus protocol itself. Meanwhile, the consensus layer aggregation still maintains high efficiency, with pqSTARK achieving a signature compression ratio of about 43:1, and the additional burden on validators remains within a controllable range. The report concludes that existing technology can achieve "quantum-resistant" deployment for blockchain, but future issues related to network bandwidth and data scalability still need to be addressed.

According to CoinDesk, Citibank stated in its latest report that the progress of quantum computing technology is faster than the market expected, accelerating the potential security risks faced by cryptocurrencies and internet infrastructure, with Bitcoin being considered one of the assets with the "greatest risk exposure." The report points out that the ECDSA elliptic curve cryptography system currently used by Bitcoin could theoretically be cracked by sufficiently powerful quantum computers. In the future, attackers may be able to derive private keys from publicly disclosed public keys, allowing them to forge transactions and steal assets.Citibank analyst Alex Saunders stated that due to its relatively conservative governance mechanism and slow protocol upgrade speed, Bitcoin is more difficult to quickly complete quantum-resistant upgrades compared to PoS networks like Ethereum. The report estimates that there are currently about 6.5 million to 6.9 million BTC at potential quantum risk due to exposed public keys, accounting for about one-third of the current circulating supply, valued at approximately $450 billion at current prices. This includes some early P2PK addresses and wallets believed to belong to Satoshi Nakamoto.Citibank also warns of the "Harvest Now, Decrypt Later" risk, where attackers currently collect encrypted data and wait until future quantum computing power matures to decrypt it all at once.However, Citibank remains optimistic about the long-term adaptability of the cryptocurrency industry, believing that blockchain can still migrate through post-quantum cryptography and protocol reconstruction in the future. The report mentions that the BIP-360 and BIP-361 upgrade proposals currently being discussed by the Bitcoin community are worth paying attention to.

According to Decrypt, the cryptocurrency technology company Quantography Labs has announced the launch of the early access version of the cryptocurrency wallet Lock.com. This product uses "Isolated Signing" and an Air-Gapped architecture, enabling offline private key management without the need for dedicated hardware wallet devices.The official statement indicates that Lock.com separates the signing environment from the network broadcasting environment: private keys are always stored in a completely offline device, while transactions are created and broadcast on a connected device, thus avoiding private key exposure to the internet. The platform emphasizes that users can directly use existing devices without relying on third-party hardware manufacturers or supply chains. Additionally, Lock.com integrates post-quantum cryptography architecture, including ML-DSA digital signatures and ML-KEM key encapsulation mechanisms, to enhance security in future quantum computing environments.Quantography Labs stated that the current early access phase is mainly used to collect user feedback and prepare for a subsequent full launch.

According to Cointelegraph, Tezos ecosystem developers have launched a prototype of a private blockchain payment testnet called TzEL, aimed at resisting future quantum computing attacks.This prototype uses post-quantum cryptography and zk-STARK proofs to protect transaction data and encrypted payment metadata, preventing "collect then decrypt" type attacks. TzEL leverages Tezos's data availability layer to handle the larger proof sizes brought by post-quantum cryptography (approximately 300 KB), which has been one of the main technical obstacles to building scalable quantum-resistant privacy systems on-chain. TzEL is currently running on the Tezos testnet and is still in the development stage, with the transition of the Tezos ecosystem to quantum-resistant cryptography still in its early stages.

At the Consensus 2026 Miami conference, Zcash Open Development Lab CEO Josh Swihart announced that Zcash will launch a quantum recoverable wallet within a month and fully achieve post-quantum status within 12 to 18 months.Additionally, the independent scaling solution aims to achieve Mastercard/Visa-level throughput within a similar timeframe. On the user side, the Electric Coin Company's wallet has enabled cross-chain swaps from assets like BTC, SOL, and USDC to privacy ZEC through the integration of Near Intents, with approximately $600-700 million in funds flowing through this route since its launch. The Near ecosystem's 30-day processing volume is close to $800 million, with Ethereum, Solana, and Zcash being the main chains.Furthermore, the project community is discussing reducing the Zcash block time from 75 seconds to 25 seconds, and the cross-chain bridge with Solana and Hyperliquid has gone live. A voting feature for token holders will also be launched, serving as an opinion layer for the project's existing consensus model. Currently, Zcash's shielded pool accounts for 30% of the circulating supply, reaching an all-time high. Analysts believe that if this ratio continues to grow with rising prices, this round of increase will be driven by real adoption rather than mere speculation.

NEAR Protocol stated on platform X that the team is adding post-quantum cryptography support for the network. NEAR's account model is different from Bitcoin and Ethereum; accounts are decoupled from cryptography and controlled through rotatable access keys.The NEAR One team is adding the NIST-approved lattice-based signature FIPS-204 scheme as the first post-quantum signature option. Once launched, any NEAR account holder can rotate keys through a single transaction, achieving quantum safety. NEAR is also collaborating with software and hardware wallets to advance post-quantum support.Through the chain signature feature, NEAR can provide threshold signatures for over 35 chains. The NEAR Intents team is developing a quantum-safe cross-chain signature solution. If other chains progress slowly in adopting post-quantum cryptography, NEAR can offer a quantum-safe environment. Aspects such as consensus mechanisms, validators, block synchronization, and transaction signatures also need to evolve for the post-quantum era, with the goal of achieving a one-time future-compatible migration.

According to The Block, the crypto anti-quantum computing solution Project Eleven released a report warning that the critical point for quantum computers to crack modern encryption, known as "Q-Day," could arrive as early as 2030, with a probability of over 50% by 2033. The report predicts that advancements in quantum computing will be explosive rather than linear, and the combined effects of hardware and algorithms could lead to a leap in capabilities that is "either completely silent or suddenly explosive."Last month, researchers used quantum hardware to derive a 15-digit elliptic curve key. Although this is still far from cracking the 256-bit encryption used by Bitcoin, it constitutes a preliminary validation. Project Eleven estimates that approximately 6.9 million Bitcoins may face quantum risks under specific conditions.

According to The Block, quantum security startup Project Eleven released a report stating that the "Q-Day," when quantum computers could break modern encryption technology, may arrive as early as 2030, with a probability of occurring before 2033 "likely exceeding 50%." The report warns that the enhancement of quantum computing capabilities will not be a linear progression but rather a leap "from nothing to something, triggered at once." Currently, approximately 6.9 million BTC (worth over $56 billion) are at risk of quantum attacks under certain conditions.In response to the aforementioned threat, several solutions have emerged in the industry: Paradigm researcher Dan Robinson proposed using timestamp proofs to help holders recover assets on future quantum-safe versions of the Bitcoin network; the BIP-361 proposal by Jameson Lopp and others suggests establishing a multi-year migration window to guide users in transferring funds to quantum-resistant addresses. Google has also advanced its quantum-resistant encryption migration target to 2029.

According to CoinGecko data, the anti-quantum sector has risen 22.4% in the past 24 hours, leading all sectors. Within the sector, ZEC has increased by 26.7%, GEEQ has risen by 7.4%, and STRK has gone up by 6.7%. The zero-knowledge sector has risen 18% in the past 24 hours, and the privacy coin sector has increased by 12.6%, ranking second and third respectively.

According to Techfundingnews, quantum chip development company QuantWare announced the completion of a $178 million Series B financing round, making it one of the largest financings in the field of quantum processors to date. This round was participated in by Intel Capital, IQT, and others.The company plans to use the funds to build the world's largest dedicated quantum chip factory and to increase the scale of quantum processors by about 10 times compared to current commercial products, with a long-term goal of achieving a hundredfold expansion. Founded in 2021 and originating from QuTech, QuantWare focuses on the design and manufacturing of quantum processing units (QPUs) and has supplied over 50 customers in more than 20 countries, making it one of the largest commercial QPU suppliers in the world. Unlike IBM, Google, and others that follow a self-research and self-use model, QuantWare positions itself as a neutral supplier, with its VIO platform supporting a modular "chiplet" architecture to help third-party companies scale quantum chips.The company stated that it will break through the scaling bottlenecks in packaging, wiring, and manufacturing of quantum computing through modular design and a dedicated factory with an approximately 20-fold increase in capacity, accelerating the development of the global quantum industry chain.

According to the Wall Street Journal, algorithm development company MicroAlgo Inc. announced the launch of a blockchain architecture based on quantum technology, which enhances transaction security and transparency by integrating quantum secure channels (QSC) and quantum key distribution (QKD).The architecture features a four-layer design, including a quantum communication layer, a blockchain core layer, a smart contract layer, and an application layer. Among these, QKD is used to achieve high-security key generation and distribution, while quantum encryption protects transaction data from theft and tampering, and also possesses resistance to quantum computing attacks.Additionally, the system strengthens long-term security through periodic key rotation and a quantum signature mechanism, and combines distributed ledger technology with a consensus mechanism to ensure data immutability and transaction verifiability, achieving a balance between security and transparency. However, the company also pointed out that there are still challenges regarding the maturity and commercialization of quantum technology, and large-scale implementation will take time.

Grayscale stated that although advanced quantum computing poses a long-term potential threat to traditional cryptography and supports all mainstream blockchains in accelerating quantum-resistant upgrades, this is not the main driver behind the recent decline in Bitcoin prices.Grayscale observed that in recent months, Bitcoin has shown a synchronized trend with the stock prices of publicly traded companies focused on quantum computing. If quantum computing breakthroughs were to exert substantial pressure on Bitcoin, the stock prices of quantum computing companies should rise, but the opposite has actually occurred. Furthermore, since October of last year, the decline in Bitcoin and quantum computing stocks mainly reflects the overall derisking of growth assets triggered by market concerns over the impact of AI.Although Bitcoin's recent correlation with investor sentiment in cutting-edge technology assets like quantum computing has increased, this has not changed its value storage function in a diversified portfolio. Investors do not need to wait for blockchain to fully complete quantum-resistant upgrades to gain relevant exposure.

According to Business Wire, the special purpose acquisition company Quantum Leap announced the completion of a $200 million initial public offering (IPO) and will trade on the NYSE under the ticker symbol "QLEPU." The raised funds will be used to support its pursuit of acquisition or merger transactions in areas such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and blockchain.

According to FinanceFeeds, Alex Thorn, the research director of Galaxy Digital, stated that as advancements in quantum computing hardware accelerate, the Bitcoin community is shifting from decentralized debates to forming a preliminary consensus on quantum threats. The core direction is to gradually introduce post-quantum cryptography (PQC) through soft forks, achieving an upgrade of the address system and long-term security assurance.The report points out that the current Bitcoin signature mechanism, which uses the Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm, can theoretically be cracked by Shor's algorithm. Approximately 2 million BTC from early p2pkh addresses are at risk because their public keys have been exposed, facing the potential risk of "collecting first and decrypting later." The community tends to promote a "migration window" mechanism to guide users in transferring their assets to new quantum-resistant addresses, and after a multi-year grace period, to implement freezing or destruction of untransferred assets to prevent large-scale market impacts in extreme situations. Additionally, the consensus includes enhancing "cryptographic agility," which allows protocols to switch signature algorithms without interrupting the network.The current proposal leans towards a dual-signature mechanism that uses ECDSA and PQC (such as Dilithium) in parallel, ensuring security redundancy while facilitating a smooth transition. Analysts believe that this approach transforms the quantum threat from a "black swan event" into a manageable technological upgrade, helping to solidify Bitcoin's security foundation as a long-term store of value asset.

Paradigm general partner Dan Robinson proposed the "Proof of Address Control Timestamp" (PACTs) mechanism, aimed at providing a protection path for Bitcoin addresses against potential threats from quantum computing.This solution allows holders to generate address control proofs through BIP-322 and create on-chain commitments using a random salt value, completing time anchoring with OpenTimestamps to establish ownership proof without disclosing wallet information. If quantum-vulnerable addresses are frozen in the future through a soft fork, users can submit STARK zero-knowledge proofs to unlock their assets when spending. This mechanism also provides a potential recovery path for wallets derived from BIP-32, but its implementation still relies on Bitcoin introducing STARK verification capabilities and gaining community consensus.

Researcher Dan Robinson from Paradigm proposed a new scheme called PACT (Verifiable Address Controlled Timestamp), aimed at protecting long-dormant bitcoins, including Satoshi's early addresses, from future quantum computing attacks.This mechanism allows users to prove their control over an address through a timestamp without the need to transfer assets or expose on-chain behavior. Once future quantum attacks occur, assets can be recovered in a quantum-resistant version of the Bitcoin network based on that proof. Compared to mandatory migration schemes (like BIP-361), PACT avoids the privacy exposure issues caused by actively transferring assets, providing long-term holders with a more flexible preemptive protection path.