Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko warned that Bitcoin developers must act to prepare for quantum computing breakthroughs that could eliminate the current security measures of the network.
Jacovenko said at All-Insummit 2025, Quantum Computers, with a “50/50” chance, will be strong enough within five years to break the encryption protections that secure Bitcoin wallets.
“We need to move Bitcoin to a quantum resistance signature scheme,” he said.
This concern is attributed to the possibility of quantum machines running algorithms like Shor, which could crack the elliptic curve digital signature algorithm that currently protects Bitcoin’s private key. This allows for the existential risks of the network: transactions and breach wallets.
Community Pushback
Bitcoin design doesn’t make such changes easy. The transition to post-mass encryption requires hard forks, a highly controversial and technically complex process that is widely supported across the network and is not backwards compatible.
Yakovenko emphasized the urgency, but others in the Crypto community are not convinced that the threat is near. BlockStream CEO Adam Back has estimated that the technology is still a little far away, and that creating a Bitcoin Quantum-Ready is “relatively simple.”
Bitcoin core contributor Peter Todd previously pointed out on social media that “doesn’t exist” as a “demo where toy issues don’t count.” For another Bitcoin core contributor, Luke Dashul, Quantum is currently less a threat to Bitcoin than Spam and the corruption of developers.
Yakovenko argued that advances in artificial intelligence show how quickly lab work can dive into the real world. The moment tech giants like Apple and Google rolled out Quantum-Safe Cryptographic Stack, he said, “It’s time to move.”
