Galaxy Digital has provided grants of up to $5 million to open source developers creating post-quantum cryptography for Bitcoin.
The company also formed a quantum advisory board as part of the Bitcoin Quantum Readiness Initiative, which announced Tuesday. The board includes Barry Sanders, professor and research director of Quantum City at the University of Calgary; Damien Bérubé, MIT Sea Grant Knauss Scholar; and Eran Tromer, professor of computer science at Boston University.
The grants will fund proposals for quantum-resistant modernizations, post-quantum cryptography, Bitcoin signature schemes, wallet and custodian migration tools, and formal security audits.
According to analytics provider Glassnode, Bitcoin’s quantum security is a growing concern as about 30% of Bitcoin’s supply could be exposed if cryptographically significant quantum computers emerge. This includes 10% of supplies considered “structurally unsafe” due to exit type and 20% considered “operationally unsafe” due to key or address management practices.
Source: Glass knot
Community divided over timeline for quantum breakthrough
The timeline for a practical breakthrough in quantum computing remains hotly debated.
In November 2025, Blockstream CEO Adam stated that Bitcoin does not face any significant quantum threat for at least the next 20-40 years. Back said this gives the network enough time to adopt post-quantum cryptography standards approved by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
In August 2024, NIST published three post-quantum cryptography standards for establishing keys and digital signatures. The standards include key exchange, digital signature and hash-based signature algorithms that could underpin future post-quantum migrations across industries, including potential Bitcoin upgrades.
Related: Bernstein says the Bitcoin market is already priced based on quantum risk
In December 2025, Blockstream Research published the file paper proposing a hash-based signature scheme as a “promising path to securing Bitcoin in a post-quantum world.” The proposal would replace Bitcoin’s ECDSA and Schnorr signatures with a scheme whose security relies solely on cryptographic hash functions.
Wealth management firm Bernstein said in an April report that Bitcoin has about three to five years to prepare for post-quantum security modernization.
Warehouse: Bitcoin’s quantum upgrade path: what BIP-360 changes and what it doesn’t
