Quantum Computers May Be Able to Hack Bitcoin Wallets

Although quantum computing is still in its early stages of development, governments and private sector companies like Microsoft and Google are working to bring these ideas to life. Within a decade, quantum computers could become powerful enough to break the cryptographic security of mobile phones, bank accounts, email addresses, and Bitcoin wallets.

Currently, asymmetric cryptography is used worldwide, relying on pairs of private and public keys to access accounts and crypto wallets.

“Every financial institution, every system login on a phone is based on asymmetric cryptography, which is vulnerable to being hacked by a quantum computer,” explained Fred Thiel, former director at Utimaco, a company that has worked with Microsoft, Google, and other tech giants on post-quantum encryption.

However, experts in cryptocurrency technology told CNBC that they are not worried about quantum hacking of Bitcoin wallets.

“We would have plenty of warning if quantum computing reached the level of maturity and sophistication where it started to threaten our core cryptographic algorithms. However, this won’t happen overnight,” said Nic Carter, co-founder of Castle Island Ventures.

The cybersecurity community, including the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), is well aware of this issue and is already in the process of creating quantum-safe cryptography.

The first standard quantum-safe cryptographic algorithm is expected to appear by 2024. According to experts, this will happen long before the world sees a quantum computer capable of breaking Bitcoin’s cryptography. Once a new standardized post-quantum secure cryptography is created, a mass migration process will begin. Every cryptocurrency holder will transfer their funds to a new wallet or account protected by a more secure type of key.