Quantum Computing Advances Spur Security Review of Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP

Quantum computing progress has prompted researchers and developers to assess long-term security risks for major cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP. Analysts estimate about 6.89 million BTC are held in addresses potentially vulnerable to future quantum attacks, including roughly 1.91 million BTC in early pay-to-public-key addresses and around 4.98 million BTC in addresses where public keys have appeared on-chain, some dormant for over a decade and widely linked to Satoshi Nakamoto holdings. Most networks today rely on elliptic curve cryptography that could theoretically be broken by sufficiently powerful quantum machines running algorithms like Shor's, though such systems do not yet exist at practical scale and many cryptographers view the threat as distant. Supporters of the XRP Ledger say its validator-based model could allow faster changes to cryptographic standards if new security demands arise, while Bitcoin and Ethereum's decentralized governance may slow quantum-resistant upgrades that require broad consensus.