European Union financial regulators, including the European Banking Authority, the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority, and the European Securities and Markets Authority, issued a joint warning regarding quantum computing. They stated that advancements in this field could compromise the cryptographic protocols currently used to secure blockchain transactions, communications, and databases.
The warning references research from Google Quantum AI published in March. According to their findings, the number of physical qubits required to break existing cryptocurrency cryptography is approximately 20 times lower than previously estimated. A qubit serves as the fundamental unit of information in a quantum computer.
The primary risk identified is the potential for future quantum computers to derive private keys from public keys, allowing unauthorized transaction signing. In response to these threats, Bitcoin developer Jameson Lopp and five colleagues proposed a plan in February to phase out current signatures and restrict spending of unmigrated funds five years after activation.
The Ethereum Foundation is also addressing these risks. The organization has set a target to implement quantum-resistant measures across its execution, consensus, and data layers by December 2029. As of now, the proposal for Bitcoin remains under consideration and has not been officially adopted by the network.
