EU regulators warn quantum computing threatens crypto security

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EU warns quantum threat to crypto

Highlights

European Banking Authority, EIOPA, and ESMA jointly warn that advances in quantum computing could compromise the cryptography securing blockchain networks and financial systems.
Google Quantum AI's March assessment found that breaking cryptocurrency cryptography may require 20 times fewer qubits than previously estimated, intensifying concerns about near-future feasibility.
Bitcoin and Ethereum developers are considering quantum-resistant upgrades, with the Ethereum Foundation targeting quantum-attack resistance across execution, consensus, and data layers by December 2029.

Joint EU warning on blockchain encryption risk

As reported by Cointelegraph, citing the European Banking Authority, the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority and the European Securities and Markets Authority, a joint risk update says advances in quantum computing could undermine the cryptography that protects blockchain networks and related financial systems.

The supervisors say the threat extends beyond crypto transactions to communications and databases that rely on similar security methods. For crypto holders, the central concern is that a sufficiently powerful quantum computer could derive a private key from an exposed public key and then authorize transactions without the owner's consent.

The warning follows a more detailed assessment from Google Quantum AI. In March, its researchers estimated that breaking the cryptography used by many cryptocurrencies could require about 20 times fewer physical qubits than earlier estimates, although no computer capable of carrying out such an attack exists today.

Industry response and implications for digital assets

Developers across the digital asset sector are already considering migration paths toward quantum-resistant systems. In February, Bitcoin developer Jameson Lopp and five co-developers proposed phasing out the network's current signatures and limiting how unmigrated funds could be spent five years after the proposal's activation, but the proposal has not been adopted.

Ethereum is also setting out a longer-term response. The Ethereum Foundation aims to make Ethereum resistant to quantum attacks across its execution, consensus and data layers by December 2029.

The warnings from EU supervisors add regulatory weight to a technical debate that is becoming more relevant for the crypto sector. Even if the risk remains prospective, the issue could influence future blockchain upgrades, custody practices and investor assessments of long-term infrastructure resilience.

In our earlier article on enterprise AI agents and cybersecurity, we explained how organizations are giving autonomous software agents access to files, databases, email and code execution, effectively creating a new class of “identity” that must be governed. We also noted that the security market is splitting into specialized control layers—such as agent identity, data controls and auditability—as companies look for ways to monitor and constrain what these agents can do at scale.

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