Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong says quantum computing does not pose an immediate threat to Bitcoin. However, he also stressed that the cryptocurrency industry must begin preparing now for a future in which sufficiently powerful quantum computers become a reality.
In a post on X, Armstrong announced the launch of the Bitcoin Security Consortium, a new initiative backed by Coinbase alongside BlackRock, Fidelity Digital Assets, Block, Blockstream, Strategy and other major industry participants.
The consortium aims to support the long-term security of the Bitcoin network and coordinate efforts to prepare the flagship cryptocurrency for the eventual arrival of quantum computers.
The announcement comes as Coinbase published a detailed roadmap outlining its own post-quantum strategy. The exchange said it is developing a quantum-resistant version of its proprietary key management system, known as PQ-CoreKMS.
According to the exchange, there is high confidence that fault-tolerant quantum computers will eventually be built. However, its quantum-focused board also found that such a threat is not imminent. The real lies in coordinating secure migrations across decentralized blockchain networks with millions of users.
Coinbase will co-host working sessions with Bitcoin Core developers, cryptographers and researchers beginning in August to discuss migration strategies. The company also pledged engineering resources and funding for this purpose.
Recent advances
In recent years, the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) completed the selection and standardization of the first post-quantum cryptographic algorithms. Governments and technology companies have already started transitioning critical infrastructure toward these new standards.
Today’s quantum computers remain far from the scale required to compromise Bitcoin’s elliptic curve cryptography, researchers continue to make steady advances in hardware reliability, error correction and logical qubits. Experts generally agree that a cryptographically relevant quantum computer capable of attacking Bitcoin would require millions of high-quality physical qubits operating with robust error correction well beyond current capabilities, but they also caution that predicting when such systems will emerge is difficult.
For Bitcoin specifically, developers have proposed several approaches for a future migration, including introducing quantum-resistant signature schemes, encouraging users to move funds to upgraded addresses, and implementing protocol changes through future Bitcoin Improvement Proposals. Any transition would require broad consensus.
Coinbase said that is precisely why it believes the industry’s focus should be on preparation.
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