Galaxy Digital Launches $5M Fund to Secure Bitcoin from Quantum Threat

Par DCN Editorial Team Publié le 21 July 2026

Analysis

On July 21, 2026, Galaxy Digital — the crypto financial services giant founded by Mike Novogratz — announced the launch of the “Bitcoin Quantum Readiness Initiative,” a grant program worth $5 million aimed at preparing the Bitcoin network for one of the most existential threats in its history: the advent of the quantum computer. This initiative, the first of its kind by a major institutional player, could mark a turning point in collective awareness about the long-term cryptographic risks facing the queen of cryptocurrencies. As Bitcoin surpasses $66,000 and institutional adoption reaches unprecedented heights, the question of its long-term viability in the face of technological advances becomes crucial.

In a context where the Clarity Act is progressing in the United States, Bitcoin ETFs are seeing record inflows, and giants like Morgan Stanley are launching crypto trading on E*Trade, the long-term security of the network has never been more important. Galaxy Digital, as a bridge between traditional finance and the crypto ecosystem, is sending a strong signal: the industry is taking the quantum threat seriously and acting proactively.

Understanding the Quantum Threat: Why Bitcoin Is Vulnerable

To understand why the quantum computer represents an existential threat to Bitcoin, one must first grasp how the network’s security works today. Bitcoin relies on two cryptographic pillars: SHA-256 (for mining and block chaining) and, most importantly, ECDSA (Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm), which allows users to sign transactions and prove they own the bitcoins they spend.

ECDSA uses the mathematical problem of the discrete logarithm on an elliptic curve — a problem that classical computers would take billions of years to solve. But here’s the catch: in 1994, mathematician Peter Shor demonstrated that a sufficiently powerful quantum computer could solve this problem in polynomial time using his famous Shor’s algorithm. In concrete terms, what would take a classical supercomputer billions of years could be reduced to a few hours — or even minutes — on a sufficiently large quantum computer.

It is important to distinguish between the two main threats. On one hand, Grover’s algorithm could speed up breaking SHA-256, reducing mining security from 256 bits to an equivalent of 128 bits — a serious but manageable threat (doubling hash sizes would suffice). On the other hand, Shor’s algorithm can completely break ECDSA, making it possible to derive private keys from public keys. This second threat is existential because it strikes at the very heart of Bitcoin’s ownership model.

The most immediate vulnerability concerns Bitcoin addresses that have already spent funds. When a transaction is signed and broadcast on the network, the owner’s public key is revealed. With a quantum computer capable of running Shor’s algorithm, an attacker could deduce the private key from that public key, then sign a new transaction to steal the funds. So-called “P2PK” (Pay-to-Public-Key) addresses from Bitcoin’s early days — including those of Satoshi Nakamoto — are particularly exposed because their public key is directly visible on the blockchain.

According to estimates, over 25% of bitcoins in circulation (roughly 5 million BTC, representing several hundred billion dollars) are held in addresses considered vulnerable to a quantum attack, because they have either already exposed their public key or used the historical P2PK format. The infamous Satoshi Nakamoto wallet, containing around 1.1 million BTC, uses the P2PK format and would be one of the first targets in the event of a massive quantum attack.

Fortunately, modern addresses (P2PKH, P2SH, Bech32) only reveal their public key at the time of spending, offering partial protection. This is known as “forward secrecy”: as long as you have never spent from an address, your public key is not exposed and you are theoretically protected against a quantum attack. But once you spend, your funds become vulnerable — meaning active users, exchanges, and services handling large volumes are the most exposed.

The Galaxy Initiative: $5 Million for Proactive Defense

Faced with this reality, Galaxy Digital has chosen to act before the threat becomes imminent. The “Bitcoin Quantum Readiness Initiative” allocates up to $5 million in grants to developers, researchers, and engineers working on concrete solutions to strengthen the quantum resistance of the Bitcoin network.

The program covers several priority research areas:

• Post-quantum signature schemes: Development and implementation of new curves and algorithms resistant to quantum attacks, such as hash-based signatures (Lamport, SPHINCS+), error-correcting codes, or lattice-based cryptography.
• Bitcoin Improvement Proposals (BIPs): Drafting and prototyping of BIPs that would enable a gradual and secure transition of Bitcoin to post-quantum algorithms, without breaking compatibility with existing wallets and hardware.
• Layer 2 solutions: Adaptation of the Lightning Network and other second-layer protocols to integrate quantum resistance, ensuring the entire ecosystem remains secure.
• Migration tools: Creation of utilities enabling bitcoin holders to move their funds from vulnerable addresses to secure post-quantum addresses, with a particular focus on dormant funds and historical addresses.
• Research and education: Funding for academic publications, conferences, and educational resources to raise awareness in the Bitcoin community and accelerate the adoption of post-quantum standards.

Rosario M. Ingargiola, director of research at Galaxy Digital, stated: “Bitcoin’s security cannot be taken for granted. The quantum computer is not a question of ‘if’ but ‘when.’ Our duty, as a responsible institutional player in the ecosystem, is to prepare the ground now so that Bitcoin remains the most secure currency in the world, even in the quantum era.”

Where Does the Quantum Threat Really Stand?

It is tempting to view the quantum threat as a distant problem, relegated to a hypothetical future. Yet recent progress suggests the deadline may be closer than many imagine.

In July 2026, several major advances have been recorded:

• Claude Fable 5 (Anthropic) solved an 87-year-old mathematical problem (the Jacobian conjecture) in a weekend, demonstrating that AI reasoning capabilities could accelerate research in cryptography much faster than expected.
• Project Eleven demonstrated a Bitcoin wallet recovery tool working in 243 milliseconds on a simple laptop — a proof of concept illustrating the speed at which quantum-workaround solutions are developing. Although this tool is designed to help victims rather than steal, it shows that post-quantum recovery concepts are already operational.
• Quantum processors continue to advance: Google recently announced a 1,200 logical qubit processor with an error rate below the correction threshold, while IBM and several Chinese startups (Origin Quantum, SpinQ) have also passed key milestones.

According to the latest estimates from the World Economic Forum and McKinsey, a quantum computer capable of breaking ECDSA-256 (Bitcoin’s elliptic curve) could arrive between 2030 and 2035. That leaves only a window of 4 to 9 years to design, test, deploy, and adopt upgrade solutions across a decentralized network of over 10,000 nodes spread worldwide. Some experts, such as Dr. Michele Mosca from the University of Waterloo, even believe the risk is more immediate, citing the principle of “harvest now, decrypt later” — attackers can already collect encrypted transactions today, waiting to be able to decrypt them later.

For Bitcoin, the race against time is particularly complex because the network has no central authority that can decree an update. Every node, every miner, every user must willingly adopt the new rules. The longer time passes, the larger the “stock” of vulnerable bitcoins (those in P2PK addresses or those that have already exposed their public key) grows with each transaction.

The Global Landscape of Post-Quantum Research

Galaxy Digital’s initiative is part of a global effort to prepare for the quantum era. The NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) finalized the first post-quantum cryptographic standards in 2024:

• FIPS 203 (ML-KEM): Key encapsulation mechanism based on lattices (Module-Lattice Key Encapsulation Mechanism)
• FIPS 204 (ML-DSA): Digital signature algorithm based on lattices (Module-Lattice Digital Signature Algorithm)
• FIPS 205 (SLH-DSA): Stateless hash-based digital signature algorithm (based on SPHINCS+)

These standards provide a solid foundation, but integrating them into Bitcoin poses unique challenges. Unlike a standard web application that...