EU Regulators Sound Alarm Over Quantum Computing Risks To Crypto Security

European Union financial supervisors issued a warning Wednesday that advancing quantum computing technology could eventually undermine the cryptographic systems that keep blockchain networks secure. The alert covers technology protecting transactions, communications, and databases across the financial sector.

Three Major EU Bodies Issue Joint Statement

The European Banking Authority, along with the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority and the European Securities and Markets Authority, released a combined risk assessment highlighting quantum computing as an emerging vulnerability. The warning builds on earlier research from Google’s quantum computing division, which found in March that cracking the cryptographic methods used by many cryptocurrencies might require roughly 20 times fewer physical qubits, the basic building blocks of quantum machines, than scientists had previously calculated.

No Working Threat Exists Yet

Despite the warning, no quantum computer currently exists with the capability to actually carry out such an attack. The theoretical concern centers on a future scenario where a sufficiently powerful quantum machine could derive someone’s private cryptographic key from their publicly visible key, then use that private key to authorize unauthorized transactions.

Bitcoin And Ethereum Developers Already Planning Ahead

Bitcoin developer Jameson Lopp, working alongside five co-developers, proposed a plan back in February to gradually phase out the network’s current signature system. The proposal would restrict how funds in unmigrated wallets could be spent starting five years after activation, though the plan has not yet been formally adopted by the network. Meanwhile, the Ethereum Foundation has set a target of December 2029 to make the network resistant to quantum attacks across its core technical layers, including execution, consensus, and data storage systems.