Skip to content

Why this matters

A quantum computer does one thing to a blockchain: it turns a public key into the private key. Everything below follows from that.

1

Keys, in one line

Every wallet has a private key (secret) and a public key (derived from it). Today, going backwards is impossible. With a large enough quantum computer, it is a computation.

2

Hidden or visible

On Bitcoin and Ethereum the address is a hash of the public key: hidden until the wallet spends. On Algorand and Solana the address is the key: visible from the first deposit.

3

Harvest now, break later

Visible keys are already being copied. When the machine arrives, every key harvested earlier is broken at once. The question is not whether you will move, but whether you move before that day.

What the board shows today

$700B
behind visible keys
36.7% of measured value
$51.0B
Binance, published wallets
all behind visible keys
$139B
USDT and USDC on Ethereum
minted, frozen or blacklisted by a visible key
$1.3M
quantum-safe, all chains
every dollar of it on Algorand

If a key-breaking machine existed tomorrow

An exchange

Hot wallets that have ever sent a transaction have visible keys. The attacker signs withdrawals as the exchange, to their own addresses, in the same block as the exchange's real traffic.

Cold wallets that never spent stay safe until the first spend, and are attacked during it.

See exchanges

A stablecoin issuer

The owner key of the token contract is visible. The attacker mints unlimited supply, freezes competitors, or unblacklists sanctioned addresses, all as valid transactions.

On Algorand the same power sits in the manager, reserve, freeze and clawback keys.

See the keys

A holder

An Algorand or Solana account is exposed from the first deposit. A Bitcoin or Ethereum account is exposed from the first spend. Funds move to the attacker in one ordinary-looking transaction, with no recourse.

A post-quantum key cannot be derived this way. That is the whole fix.

Check an address

The dates that are already set

The arrival date of the machine is unknown. These are rules, not predictions.
  1. 2027

    NSA CNSA 2.0: new national security systems must use quantum-safe algorithms.

  2. 2030

    NIST IR 8547: ECDSA, Ed25519 and RSA deprecated for US federal systems. 1,202 days from today.

  3. 2033

    NSA CNSA 2.0: all national security systems quantum-safe.

  4. 2035

    NIST IR 8547: classical signatures disallowed.

What to do, today

  • 1Know your exposure. Every published wallet, every controlling key, on every chain. This board does that.
  • 2Keep hidden keys hidden. On Bitcoin and Ethereum, never reuse a spent address; sweep to fresh keys.
  • 3Move what can move. On Algorand, rekey holdings to a Falcon-1024 key (same address, no fund movement) and rotate issuer authorities. The only live post-quantum path on a major chain.

Where quantum-safe exists

Algorand shipped native Falcon-1024 accounts in August 2026. 98 accounts and 3 assets have moved. Every other major chain: proposals, no path live. Chain by chain.

Talk to us

Sources: NIST IR 8547 (Transition to Post-Quantum Cryptography Standards), NSA CNSA 2.0, the chain and study sources listed on the methodology page.