Nine Firms Form Quantum Alliance, Warn 6.4M Bitcoin Have Exposed Keys

Nine crypto companies announced the formation of the Quantum Alliance on Thursday, October 16, unveiling a new industry consortium aimed at building quantum-resistant security standards for blockchain networks. The group estimates that 6.4 million bitcoin — 30.2% of total circulating supply — have publicly exposed keys that could eventually be targeted by a sufficiently powerful quantum computer.

Details

The consortium's founding members include Hacken, the Midnight Foundation (led by Cardano creator Charles Hoskinson), Quantus, and Postquant Labs, among others. The Alliance plans to publish security benchmarks and guidelines for migrating existing networks — including Bitcoin and Ethereum — to post-quantum cryptographic algorithms.

Experts broadly agree on the theoretical risk: a powerful enough quantum machine could reverse-engineer a private key from an exposed public key, potentially draining a wallet. No existing quantum computer is close to that capability today. But the timeline is contested. Richard Carback, CTO of Postquant Labs, calls 2028 a "realistic" date for a machine capable of breaking current cryptography. Bryn Bennett, CRO of The Vault, pushed back: "Nobody knows the date, but the estimates keep falling."

A deeper debate concerns what to do about vulnerable coins. Proposals range from freezing at-risk addresses to forced migration or placing funds in escrow — each raising thorny questions about property rights and protocol neutrality.

What it means for the market

The Alliance's launch comes a day after Google reported a 40x reduction in quantum errors on its Willow chip — progress that experts said still leaves Bitcoin safe for now. The consortium's argument is that industry-wide migration to quantum-resistant standards will take years, making early preparation essential. The addresses most at risk are old-style P2PK outputs and wallets that have already broadcast their public key through prior transactions — a category that includes coins from Bitcoin's earliest mining era.