The agency aimed to draw a clear distinction often lost in warnings about quantum computing: the hash functions that help secure a blockchain’s history, including bitcoin mining, remain far more resistant to quantum attacks than the public-key cryptography used to control wallets.
“Cryptocurrencies will not collapse due to quantum computing,” Europol said. The immediate concern is ownership of the assets held in wallets, not whether a quantum computer could rewrite the bitcoin blockchain.
That distinction is more critical for addresses from the earliest days of Bitcoin – referred to as the “Satoshi era” – whose public keys have already become visible onchain. A powerful enough quantum computer could use those keys to drive the corresponding private key. Roughly 6.9 million bitcoin sit in addresses with exposed public keys, including early pay-to-topublic-key outputs and many long-dormant holdings.
Europol said exposed keys cannot…
