Google Says Quantum Could Break Bitcoin in 10 Minutes — Here's How Crypto Is Responding

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The quantum computing threat to blockchain has shifted from theoretical to urgent following research from Google and the California Institute of Technology published in March, which suggested that functional quantum computers could arrive sooner than expected and would require significantly less computing power to break existing cryptography than previously believed. Google specifically claimed that quantum computers could potentially break Bitcoin's cryptography within 10 minutes, enabling what researchers describe as an "on-spend" attack — where an attacker intercepts and redirects a transaction while it is in flight by cracking the cryptographic signature in real time. That timeline is far more alarming than earlier estimates, and it has accelerated action across multiple blockchain ecosystems simultaneously.

The response from major protocols has been swift. NEAR Protocol is building a post-quantum-safe signing system for its layer-1 blockchain and plans to launch its first quantum solution — FIPS-204, a standard approved by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology — on testnet by the end of Q2 2026. The Ethereum Foundation has established a dedicated Post-Quantum Ethereum team with a target of integrating quantum solutions at the protocol level by 2029. On Solana, two validator clients — Anza and Firedancer — have already implemented a test version of Falcon, a new post-quantum signature scheme. Even the Bitcoin community, traditionally conservative about protocol changes, has begun seriously engaging with the issue. Blockstream CEO Adam Back, who believes current quantum computers remain essentially lab experiments, nonetheless urged Bitcoin developers in April to begin building quantum-resistant solutions now rather than waiting for the threat to become imminent.

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Google said quantum computers could break Bitcoin in 10 minutes and every blockchain developer had a very bad afternoon