Galaxy Digital (GLXY) said it has created a $5 million fund for Bitcoin developers working to protect the network against the potential future threat posed by quantum computing.
The crypto financial services company said it will immediately begin accepting applications for the Galaxy Bitcoin Quantum Readiness Initiative, with grants focused on developing quantum-resistant signature systems, wallet migration tools and security audits. The company said it hopes other companies will contribute funding and research to accelerate the transition to quantum-resistant cryptography.
Bitcoin secures wallets and transactions with cryptographic techniques that current computers cannot break in a reasonable amount of time. Although quantum computing is still too immature to attack blockchain, technological advancements have accelerated government and industry efforts to adopt quantum-resistant standards before the threat becomes a reality.
In the event that quantum computers are able to break Bitcoin’s cryptography, approximately 6.9 million bitcoins could become vulnerable to theft, according to CryptoQuant research. At the current price of around $66,800, that’s around $461 billion.
