A recent note from CoinShares addressed concerns about whether quantum computers could harm Bitcoin
The firm stated that only a small share of the total supply is held in wallets worth targeting.
Christopher Bendiksen, the head of Bitcoin research at CoinShares, explained that about 10,230 BTC out of roughly 1.63 million BTC are in addresses whose public keys are visible. These keys could be exposed if a powerful quantum computer were to appear.
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He outlined how these BTC are distributed. More than 7,000 BTC are held in wallets with between 100 and 1,000 BTC. Another 3,230 BTC sit in wallets with 1,000 to 10,000 BTC.
At today’s prices, the total value is about $719.1 million. Bendiksen noted that this would not look unusual compared to normal trading volumes.
The rest of the 1.63 million BTC fall into wallets with less than 100 BTC each. According to Bendiksen, even very optimistic predictions for quantum advancement still show that unlocking each of these smaller wallets would take around one thousand years.
He linked the potential threat to two well-known quantum algorithms. Shor’s algorithm could break elliptic-curve signatures. Grover’s algorithm could reduce the strength of SHA-256.
He added that neither method would change Bitcoin’s fixed 21 million supply or bypass its proof-of-work design.
Recently, Coinbase created an independent board to study how quantum computing could affect blockchain security and encryption. What did the company say? Read the full story.
