Europol warns crypto wallets are top quantum risk

Europol has published two reports on the risks quantum computing poses to the cryptocurrency ecosystem and the countermeasures available, according to digitaltoday.co.kr. The agency's European Cybercrime Centre identified cryptocurrency wallets as a major exposure point for quantum threats.

Europol stated that once quantum attacks become feasible, the only practical response is to move funds to quantum-resistant wallets before an attack begins. The reports also cited a 2024 study suggesting that converting all unspent transaction outputs to a quantum-safe state could require at least 76 cumulative days of network downtime, or about 300 days if only 25% of each block's capacity is used.

On the technology timeline, Europol noted that IBM aims for an error-tolerant quantum computer by 2029 and that Microsoft expects scalable quantum computing around the same time. Its recommendations include a gradual transition to quantum-resistant cryptography, stronger wallet security and improved key management.

Europol also proposed forming a European Commission-led working group to regularly share information with policy authorities alongside Europol, the EU cybersecurity agency and the EU anti-money laundering authority.

Earlier warnings and industry work

Concern over quantum exposure has been building across the sector. As of May 2025, Glassnode estimated that about 6.04 million BTC were exposed on public keys, roughly 30.2% of total Bitcoin issuance, while quantum-resistant signature schemes standardized by NIST are currently 10 to 120 times larger than the ECDSA signatures Bitcoin uses. In a 2025 survey of 32 experts, the probability that equipment able to break RSA-2048 within 24 hours would emerge in the next 10 years was given as 28–49%.