The co-founder of Solana, Anatoly Yakovenko, warned that Bitcoin developers should act to prepare for a possible quantum computing breakthrough which could make the current security measures of the obsolete network.
Speaking at the All-in 2025 summit, Yakovenko said that there was a “50/50”, quantum computers of the opportunities will be powerful within five years to break cryptographic protections by obtaining Bitcoin wallets.
“We have to migrate bitcoin to a quantum resistant signature scheme,” he said.
The concern stems from the possibility that quantum machines carry out algorithms like Shor, which could break the digital signature algorithm of the elliptical curve currently protecting the private Bitcoin keys. This would make it possible to forge transactions and compromise portfolios, an existential risk for the network.
Community decline
Bitcoin design does not facilitate such a change. A migration to post-quantum cryptography would require a hard fork, a very controversial and technically complex process which would require generalized support through the network and would not be compatible behind.
While Yakovenko stressed the urgency, other members of the cryptographic community are not convinced that the threat is close. Adam Back, CEO of Blockstream, estimated that technology is still a bit far and even the manufacture of Bitcoin Quantum-Prêt is “relatively simple”.
Bitcoin Core’s contributor Peter Todd said earlier on social networks than quantum computers “do not exist” because “demos that perform toy problems do not count”. For Luke Dashjr, another basic Bitcoin contributor, Quantum is not as much a threat to Bitcoin now as the spam and corruption of developers, which the community can now approach.
Yakovenko argued that the progress of artificial intelligence show how fast laboratory work can jump in the real world. As the technology giants like Apple or Google deploy quantum cryptographic batteries, it said: “It’s time to migrate.”
