# Quantum Computing and Bitcoin

> A personal research page about quantum computing risk to Bitcoin, Ethereum, elliptic curve cryptography, and post-quantum migration.

Canonical page: https://charliethompson.lol/quantum.html
Report PDF: https://charliethompson.lol/assets/reports/QC_BTC_Dec2025.pdf

## Report

First published: August 2025. Updated: December 2025.

This report argues that the relevant quantum risk for Bitcoin and Ethereum is not SHA-256, but ECDSA: a cryptographically relevant quantum computer running Shor's algorithm could derive private keys from exposed public keys and enable storage or transit attacks.

It frames post-quantum migration as a coordination problem across consensus rules, wallets, exchanges, inactive addresses, and user action. It also tracks quantum hardware, error-correction, and algorithmic progress; government and Web2 post-quantum migration; and the Quantum Resistant Ledger as an example of a live quantum-resistant blockchain.