Unchained Why Bitcoin Developers Are Not Incentivized to Talk About the Quantum Threat
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Feb 12, 2026 
Chris Peikert, a University of Michigan professor and lattice-crypto expert, and Justin Drake, an Ethereum Foundation researcher focused on post-quantum migration, dive into the quantum threat to blockchain. They discuss quantum timelines, key-harvesting risks, migration challenges, hash-based and lattice defenses, and the social and technical hurdles of upgrading major chains.
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Elliptic Curves Are The Primary Quantum Target
- Quantum computers can run algorithms that break elliptic-curve cryptography used by many blockchains.
- Justin Drake warns ECDSA, BLS and KZG-style primitives are all vulnerable if Q-day arrives.
Logical Vs Physical Qubits Matter
- Qubits come in logical and physical flavours and require error correction that multiplies physical qubits per logical qubit.
- Improvements in algorithms and error correction can dramatically reduce qubit requirements for crypto attacks.
Keep Cold Storage Behind Hashed Addresses
- Hide public keys by keeping funds in addresses that have never spent so the public key remains unrevealed.
- Exchanges and custodians should place cold storage in never-spent addresses to mitigate quantum theft risk.