Fear that quantum computing is on the cusp of cracking cryptocurrency’s encryption spurs a global investment firm to remove Bitcoin from recommendations
https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/cryptocurrency/fear-that-quantum-computing-on-the-cusp-of-cracking-cryptocurrencys-encryption-spurs-a-global-investment-firm-to-remove-bitcoin-from-recommendations
23 Comments
Theyve been talking quantum since forever. Theyre decades away at best. Were a soft fork away from better encryption.
tldr; Christopher Wood, a senior financial strategist at Jefferies, has removed Bitcoin from his recommended portfolio due to concerns that advancements in quantum computing could compromise its cryptographic security. He suggests reallocating investments to physical gold and gold mining stocks. While current quantum computing capabilities are insufficient to crack Bitcoin’s SHA-256 algorithm, the potential future threat has raised concerns among long-term investors. Developers are exploring post-quantum cryptography to address these risks.
*This summary is auto generated by a bot and not meant to replace reading the original article. As always, DYOR.
Tell me you don’t know how crypto works without telling me you don’t know how crypto works.
Christopher Wood, a senior financial strategist at Jefferies – Might want to rethink this role., maybe junior financial dumbass ?
Send this paper to anyone that says quantum computing is going to crack encryption soon. [https://eprint.iacr.org/2025/1237](https://eprint.iacr.org/2025/1237)
TLDR: A good boy (dog) named Scribbles is better than quantum computers.
Then why are big banks and financial institutions still purchasing?
The article literally explains how these fears and narratives from this financial strategist do not actually match the reality much less what developers in the field have already explained:
>Despite this, many cryptocurrency developers aren’t as concerned as Wood and other financial experts. For one, current quantum computing capabilities are nowhere near powerful or stable enough to defeat current cryptography algorithms, so they remain safe for the time being. Besides that, progress in the field of quantum computing is slow and public, meaning developers would have ample warning that they need to upgrade their algorithms.
>Another big reason that cryptocurrencies aren’t particularly concerned about quantum computing right now is that if quantum computers can break Bitcoin security, then they can break cryptography algorithms all across the world. So, if their security protocols were to be broken, then the security of everything else — including traditional banking systems, secured internet protocols, government encryption, and more — will also be affected. Besides, security developers are already looking into post-quantum cryptography, with cryptocurrency developers able to take advantage of their developments as well.
Lmao
He probably read AI slop articles about quantum computing and took the bait
Fearing quantum computing for Bitcoin is like fearing a flood for a house that can be moved to higher ground. The protocol isn’t static, it can and will implement quantum-resistant algorithms long before a commercial quantum computer is viable for an 51% attack.
This is hilarious.
If Quantum computing can break Bitcoin then it can break every single interconnected database ie banks.
So buy physical gold only, is that their recommendation?
Yeah quantum computing is also going to take out the security on almost every major financial institution anyways but let’s single out bitcoin
Yawn. They better be more worried about their ledger systems
Oh no, is bitcoin dead for the 117th time?
People can move to quantum protected wallets, but it seems like it will cause a huge lack of confidence. Why can’t they just add more protection with a fork?
Every single time this topic is mentioned, you will see the same short-sighted arguments.
1. There is NOT an immediate risk. Your bags are safe, but changes are needed to keep it that way.
2. The incoming risk is becoming more apparent- the timelines are highly debated. The Google Willow news sparked concerns of how fast that might occur. The timing is no longer worth debating- these advancements are going to continue to be published and people will demand safeguards.
3. Yes, it affects all systems, not just crypto. Hence, not a crypto narrative.
4. This incoming risk moved slow, and it seemed it may never be a concern. That has changed.
5. Thankfully, there has been extensive work to create cryptography that can withstand the capabilities of quantum computing.
6. No, this isn’t a Super Computer that runs everything exponentially faster. Instead, it is capable of running certain algorithms exponentially faster. This is why Shor and potentially more advanced algos will be able to break today’s digital signatures.
7. No, this is not about SHA-256. It is about RSA and ECDSA. These are the digital signatures that allow you to authorize transactions with your wallet or private key. Updating these is not a simple fork, it won’t be backward compatible, and may cause extensive downtime to transition.
8. Not all keys are exposed- generally it is any that had an outgoing transaction or the Satoshi era wallets that used a weaker form of encryption.
9. There is a lot of exposure which would be a problem. and the concern is that could escalate a massive sell-off.
10. The systems we think would be more likely targeted are already working on upgrading. The ones that don’t upgrade will become the targets.
11. There will be cloud capabilities, which would allow low level actors to break into wallets. Crypto does not have any way to prove if they were the rightful owners, and of course we know people find ways to move the funds through mixers. This makes it a very vulnerable target.
TLDR- there no longer are solid arguments for not working on a solution. This is not doomsday, it requires thoughtful solutions, and making the tough choices to move forward.
Oh we are at this stage of fud again.
Sounds like market manipulation
The same algorithm Bitcoin uses is used in virtually every secure thing we use today. If these quantum computers could do it, we’d have bigger problems than Bitcoin.Â
In addition, do you think that even if they could do it they would tell us? Whoever can crack SHA-256 would have so much power, you’d have no idea. No intelligence/spy agency is going to let you know they have this ability. All secure communications and transactions would be wide open.Â
How does this firm feel about out quantum computing also cracking all their servers, bank accounts, medical details, etc.
Lol, but has no thought towards quantum computing having long ago cracked binary encryption. The firm should throw all their computers out the window too with that mentality.
I wish it would crack the Epstein file redactions.
this isn’t really much a doomsday threat. but it would be for satoshi if he doesn’t move his coins