{"slug": "eu-watchdogs-warn-quantum-computers-could-pick-cryptos-locks", "title": "EU watchdogs warn quantum computers could pick crypto’s locks", "summary": "The European Banking Authority, European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority and European Securities and Markets Authority warned Wednesday in a joint risk update that advances in quantum computing could undermine the cryptography securing blockchains, transactions, communications and databases. The warning follows a March assessment from Google Quantum AI estimating that breaking the cryptography used by many cryptocurrencies could require about 20 times fewer physical qubits than earlier estimates, though no computer capable of such an attack exists today. Bitcoin developer Jameson Lopp and five co-developers proposed in February phasing out the network's current signatures and restricting spending of unmigrated funds five years after activation, a proposal not yet adopted, while the Ethereum Foundation aims to make Ethereum resistant to quantum attacks across its execution, consensus and data layers by December 2029.", "body_md": "European Union financial supervisors warned Wednesday that advances in quantum computing could threaten the cryptography securing blockchains.\n\nThe European Banking Authority, European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority and European Securities and Markets Authority said in a joint risk update that quantum computing could undermine systems used to secure transactions, communications and databases.\n\nThe warning follows a more detailed assessment from Google Quantum AI. In March, its researchers estimated that breaking the cryptography used by many cryptocurrencies could require about 20 times fewer physical qubits than earlier estimates. A qubit is the basic unit of a quantum computer.\n\nNo computer capable of carrying out such an attack exists today.\n\nFor cryptocurrency holders, the concern is that a future quantum computer could derive a private key from an exposed public key and use it to authorize transactions.\n\nBitcoin developer Jameson Lopp and five co-developers in February proposed phasing out the network’s current signatures and restricting how unmigrated funds could be spent five years after the proposal’s activation. The proposal has not been adopted.\n\nThe Ethereum Foundation aims to make Ethereum resistant to quantum attacks across its execution, consensus and data layers by December 2029.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/eu-watchdogs-warn-quantum-computers-could-pick-cryptos-locks", "canonical_source": "https://cryptonews.net/news/blockchain/33483500/", "published_at": "2026-09-23 20:43:00+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-09-23 21:30:42.293328+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-policy"], "entities": ["European Banking Authority", "European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority", "European Securities and Markets Authority", "Google Quantum AI", "Jameson Lopp", "Ethereum Foundation", "Bitcoin", "Ethereum"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/eu-watchdogs-warn-quantum-computers-could-pick-cryptos-locks", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/eu-watchdogs-warn-quantum-computers-could-pick-cryptos-locks.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/eu-watchdogs-warn-quantum-computers-could-pick-cryptos-locks.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/eu-watchdogs-warn-quantum-computers-could-pick-cryptos-locks.jsonld"}}