On October 7, 2026, the European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) released two reports highlighting the vulnerability of cryptocurrency wallets to future quantum computing threats. Europol warns that advanced quantum machines could utilize Shor’s algorithm to derive private keys from exposed public keys, potentially enabling unauthorized fund transfers.
The agency emphasizes the risk of the HNDL (harvest now, decrypt later) tactic, where attackers store encrypted data today to crack it once quantum hardware matures. Because blockchain data is permanent and public, current information remains accessible for future exploitation.
According to CryptoQuant, approximately 6.9 million Bitcoin are currently held in legacy or reused addresses susceptible to these quantum risks. At the time of the report, this volume was valued at approximately $586 billion.
Europol recommends a systematic transition to quantum-resistant cryptography, targeting developers, wallet providers, and policymakers. This follows a September 2026 alert from the Joint Committee of European Supervisory Authorities regarding the security risks of quantum advancements.
The European Commission requires member states to begin adopting post-quantum security measures by the end of 2026. Europol notes that the primary challenge lies in migrating funds from older, insecure address formats, which requires coordination across the industry.
