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Morning Edition · Wednesday, July 22, 2026Published at 1:32 AM EDT · New York
Galaxy Commits Up to $5 Million to Harden Bitcoin Against Quantum Computers
The grant program arrives the same week researchers reported running a standard quantum attack on real IBM hardware, extending a known period-recovery method beyond earlier demonstrations.
Galaxy Digital, the crypto financial-services firm run by Michael Novogratz, committed up to $5 million in developer grants through a Bitcoin Quantum Readiness Initiative, funding work on quantum-resistant signature schemes, wallet-migration tools, and security audits. The program also convenes an advisory council drawn from academic researchers, and Galaxy is seeking co-funding from other firms to speed adoption of new cryptographic standards.
The concern is specific. Bitcoin addresses that have exposed their public keys, including many holding coins that have not moved in years, could in principle be broken by a sufficiently powerful quantum computer running Shor's algorithm. Galaxy cites estimates that as much as 6.9 million bitcoin could be at risk, and notes government warnings that a capable machine could arrive as early as 2030. No current quantum computer can do this, and building and deploying new signature schemes across wallets and custodians could take years.
The threat is moving from theory toward demonstration. Researchers reported genuine, un-compiled quantum cryptanalysis on IBM's Heron-generation hardware, using Simon's algorithm to recover the hidden period of an Even-Mansour cipher structure and extending the recoverable size from earlier small cases. These are not attacks on Bitcoin's signatures, but they show standard quantum attacks executing on real machines rather than in simulation, which is why custodians are treating migration as an engineering schedule rather than a distant hypothetical.
What this means
Quantum resistance is becoming a concrete custody and protocol design problem, and the exposed parties are holders of coins in old key-exposed addresses and custodians who cannot migrate client funds overnight. The channel is timeline risk. If capable hardware arrives before Bitcoin agrees on and deploys a post-quantum signature scheme, the large quantity of dormant, key-exposed coins becomes an active theft risk rather than a research topic, and the entities funding migration now are trying to shorten that gap.
What to watch
- Whether other large custodians and exchanges co-fund the initiative, which would signal industry consensus on the timeline rather than one firm hedging.
Part of a tracked trend
Quantum Risk Moves From Theory to Crypto Roadmaps
Over the next 3-6 months, quantum-resistance becomes a concrete design and custody concern across major chains and institutional custodians, driving opt-in post-quantum schemes and 'long-dormant coin' risk discussion.
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