The Bitcoin Foundation editorial team reviewed recent expert comments and compiled the key takeaways: how the quantum threat connects to artificial intelligence and how this duo affects digital money.
Artificial intelligence is significantly shortening the timeline in which modern cryptography could become vulnerable to quantum computers. Experts made this warning at the Digital Money Summit 2026 conference, as reported by CoinDesk.
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Contents
How Does AI Affect Quantum Development?
Project Eleven head Alex Pruden noted that machine learning is already being actively used to solve one of the main problems of quantum computers: error correction. AI is being used both for system defense and for finding vulnerabilities in existing encryption algorithms.
NEAR▼$2.32 Protocol co-founder Illia Polosukhin confirmed that AI has been accelerating scientific research in quantum computing for several years. He suggested that the next generation of quantum systems will be created with direct AI assistance.
Particular concern surrounds the “store now,decrypt later” strategy. Attackers could already be collecting and storing encrypted traffic today, hoping to decrypt it in the future using powerful quantum computers.
Read more: Vitalik Buterin Says His Ethereum Foundation Power Will Shrink
Risks for the Crypto Industry
Most blockchains, including Bitcoin and Ethereum, use elliptic curve cryptography. A sufficiently powerful quantum computer could theoretically derive a private key from a public key. On Ethereum (ETH), the public key is revealed when a transaction is sent, further increasing risks.
In March 2026, Google estimated that breaking 256-bit ECC might require only about 1,200 logical qubits—significantly fewer than previous forecasts. The corporation plans to fully transition to post-quantum cryptography by 2029.
How to Protect Crypto From the Quantum Threat?
The Ethereum Foundation presented a quantum protection roadmap in March. The basic infrastructure is planned for completion by 2029. Weekly tests are already underway within the ecosystem, involving more than 10 client teams.
Ripple published a post-quantum readiness roadmap for the XRP▼$1.21 Ledger in April, with a target date of 2028.
Experts emphasize that the main danger lies not only in quantum computers themselves but in their combination with AI capabilities.
Learn more: Why Crypto Regulation Became a Global Power Issue in 2026
