Europol warns: crypto wallets are a primary quantum attack risk point, and recommends advancing post-quantum migration ahead of time.

October 7: Europol released two reports calling on the crypto industry and policymakers to address the quantum computing threat in advance. Its European Cybercrime Centre pointed out that crypto wallets are the main risk point of the quantum threat: a sufficiently powerful quantum computer could derive private keys from exposed public keys, thereby transferring assets without authorization. In contrast, the hash functions that connect blocks and support mining remain largely resistant to quantum attacks.

The report argues that cryptocurrencies will not collapse because of quantum computing, but recommends a phased migration to post-quantum cryptographic systems and improved wallet security and key management. For wallets whose public keys are already publicly exposed on-chain, the report recommends moving funds before an attack occurs. The report also notes that standardized post-quantum signatures are 10 to 120 times larger than the ECDSA signatures currently used by Bitcoin, which could increase block space pressure, push up fees, and slow confirmations.

Another report focuses on the "harvest now, decrypt later" risk, in which attackers first collect encrypted data and crack it once quantum technology matures. There is currently no clear evidence that this tactic has been systematically and large-scale exploited, and government communications and corporate confidential data are considered the most likely targets.