Europol Warns of Quantum Computers Threat to Crypto Wallets

Europol has warned that quantum computers could threaten cryptocurrency wallets by revealing private keys. On October 7, 2026, in a report on quantum computing and cryptocurrencies, the agency urged the industry to start updating security systems to prevent potential attacks. According to Europol, about 6.9 million bitcoins are stored at addresses with exposed public keys, making them vulnerable to future attacks using quantum technologies. Although computers capable of such attacks do not yet exist, Europol emphasized that "proactive adaptation, rather than systemic collapse, is more likely to be the outcome." The agency recommends starting a gradual transition to post-quantum cryptography by updating wallets and improving key management. Discussions among developers about transitioning to post-quantum technologies are already underway, and some scientists predict that realistic plans for this transition should be developed by 2029. In July, IBM stated that it expects significant commercial revenue from quantum computing in the next two to four years.

The Europol report mentions that the current cryptographic functions protecting important parts of blockchain security remain significantly more resilient to quantum attacks than the public cryptography used for wallet management. The agency noted that wallets often represent the main vulnerable spots in cryptocurrency systems, whose authorization depends on public keys. It is important to emphasize that "cryptocurrencies will not collapse due to quantum computing": the main danger lies in the ownership of assets stored in wallets. This is especially critical for addresses from the early days of Bitcoin, the so-called Satoshi era, whose public keys have already become visible on the blockchain. Public keys cannot be secured retroactively, and this issue has sparked widespread debate in the community about whether BTC in Satoshi-era wallets should be frozen.

Bitcoin developers are already discussing plans to transition from signature methods that are outdated in terms of quantum security. Existing elliptic curve digital signature algorithms may be replaced with new post-quantum signature schemes, which are 10-120 times larger than current ones. According to a 2024 study, converting all unspent Bitcoin transaction outputs to a post-quantum format would require at least 76 days of cumulative block space. If 25% of each block is reserved for the transition, the process would stretch to approximately 300 days. The European Cybercrime Centre, part of Europol, highlighted that the main challenge will be coordinating a global transition before vulnerable wallets become targets for attacks.