TLDR Crypto · GUIDES & TUTORIALS

BITCOIN AND THE QUANTUM PROBLEM

murmurationstwo.substack.com25 min read

Summary from the TLDR Crypto newsletter

Quantum computing poses an existential risk to Bitcoin as Shor's algorithm running on 2,000 logical qubits could reverse-engineer private keys from public keys, with 6.7 million BTC vulnerable, including 1.7 million in Satoshi's exposed p2pk addresses and 4.8 million in reused addresses. Evidence suggests CRQCs will arrive by 2035. Threat scenarios range from North Korea monetizing exploits to China weaponizing quantum breaks against US-associated Bitcoin to lawful seizure by American entities protecting the strategic reserve.