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How Bitcoin’s Quantum Risk Compares With Ethereum’s

Bitcoin can hide some public keys until spending, while Ethereum exposes keys after an account sends a transaction. Neither blockchain has completed a post-quantum transition.
From TheFinanceBase Team8 min to read
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Neither Bitcoin nor Ethereum is quantum-resistant today. A sufficiently capable quantum computer running Shor’s algorithm could derive private keys from exposed elliptic-curve public keys and use them to forge signatures. The main difference is when those keys become visible: Bitcoin’s UTXO design can keep some public keys hidden until a coin is spent, while an Ethereum account’s public key is exposed onchain after it sends a transaction. Both ecosystems are preparing, but neither has completed a post-quantum transition, and there is no dependable date for a machine capable of breaking these signatures.

What quantum risk means for Bitcoin and Ethereum

The important risk is not that quantum computers automatically break every part of a blockchain. It is that Shor’s algorithm could solve the mathematical problem behind widely used elliptic-curve signatures. If a cryptographically relevant quantum computer could do that at practical scale, an attacker who knows a user’s public key could calculate the corresponding private key and create a valid-looking transaction signature.

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Signatures authorize spending. A forged signature could therefore let an attacker spend assets controlled by the exposed key. This is distinct from a general attack on blockchain hashing, consensus, or every cryptographic component. The comparison here concerns signature exposure and the work needed to replace vulnerable cryptography; it should not be read as saying that mining hash functions face the same attack.

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Google Quantum AI researchers Ryan Babbush and Hartmut Neven wrote on 2026-03-31 that future quantum computers may break elliptic-curve cryptography with fewer qubits and gates than previously realized. That is a warning about resource estimates, not evidence that such a computer exists. The Ethereum Foundation’s Post-Quantum team said in 2026, “We do not believe a cryptographically relevant quantum computer is imminent.” These are assessments, not guarantees about the timing.

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Bitcoin and Ethereum compared

Question Bitcoin Ethereum
How transactions are authorized UTXO spends use ECDSA or Schnorr signatures. Account transactions use ECDSA signatures; validators also use BLS signatures for consensus.
When a public key may be visible Some output patterns commit to a public-key hash, hiding the key until a spend. A spend reveals its public key, including during the unconfirmed mempool interval. A receive-only account exposes an address hash. Once an account sends a transaction, its public key is exposed onchain.
Can users reduce some long-term exposure? Yes. Fresh hashed outputs and avoiding address reuse can reduce certain at-rest exposure, but do not eliminate all exposure. Receive-only status keeps the public key from being exposed through a transaction, but active accounts routinely expose it. This is not a substitute for protocol migration.
Public preparation described in the cited material BIP 360 and BIP 361 are proposals, not deployed network changes. The Ethereum Foundation has a dedicated Post-Quantum team and a living, directional roadmap; proposals and roadmap work are not equivalent to deployment.
Has a complete post-quantum transition occurred? No. No.

Why Bitcoin’s UTXO model changes exposure

Bitcoin tracks spendable outputs, known as unspent transaction outputs, rather than keeping a persistent account balance in the same way Ethereum does. Some Bitcoin output types commit to a hash of a public key. Before the output is spent, the public key itself need not appear onchain, so an attacker does not have that key as a target for a long-exposure attack.

That protection depends on the output pattern and user behavior. Address reuse can leave a public key visible from an earlier spend, and some output types reveal a key differently. When a user spends an output, the public key becomes visible in the transaction. It is visible while the transaction is unconfirmed in the mempool as well as after confirmation. BIP 360 distinguishes long-exposure attacks on keys visible longer than the mempool interval from short-exposure attempts made during that unconfirmed interval.

Google Quantum AI’s 2026 taxonomy describes the UTXO model as allowing cautious users to avoid some at-rest attacks, not as making Bitcoin immune. Bitcoin BIP 361 estimates that more than 34% of all bitcoin had revealed a public key onchain as of 2026-03-01. That figure is the proposal’s estimate for that date, not an independently verified live measurement.

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What BIP 360 proposes

BIP 360 proposes Pay-to-Merkle-Root (P2MR), a script-tree output type similar to P2TR but without the quantum-vulnerable key-path spend. Its aim is to mitigate a class of exposure associated with key-path spending. It does not replace Bitcoin’s signatures with post-quantum signatures and is not, by itself, a full quantum-resistance upgrade.

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A proposal is not a wallet setting that users can switch on unilaterally. Adoption would require protocol support and uptake across the relevant software and network participants. The proposal therefore should not be mistaken for an activated Bitcoin feature.

What BIP 361 proposes

BIP 361 describes a broader migration approach. It proposes a permitted-spend phase after activation, followed by a later tightening of ECDSA and Schnorr verification. Its phases are defined relative to activation; they are not a live network schedule or a promise of a particular calendar date.

Any migration that changes which signatures can authorize a spend raises hard questions: how wallets and nodes adopt new rules, what happens to exposed legacy outputs, and how to handle dormant or inaccessible coins. A protocol cannot assume that every owner will be available to move funds when new rules arrive. Those coordination issues are part of the risk-management problem, not evidence that a proposal is already in force.

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Why Ethereum’s account model exposes keys differently

Ethereum uses persistent accounts. A receive-only account address is a hash rather than a public key, but when that account signs and sends a transaction, the public key can be recovered from the signature and is exposed onchain. That makes exposure more routine for active accounts than for Bitcoin outputs whose public key remains hidden behind a hash until spending.

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This difference affects the window and pattern of exposure, not the fundamental cryptographic dependency. Both chains rely on elliptic-curve signatures for user spending, and a public key that has been exposed remains a potential target if an attacker eventually has the required quantum capability. Neither model makes a user’s assets immediately vulnerable today on the evidence available.

Ethereum also has cryptographic surfaces beyond ordinary account transactions. Its consensus uses BLS validator signatures; its scaling roadmap includes KZG commitments; and some zero-knowledge proof systems use elliptic-curve cryptography. Replacing account signatures alone would not establish that every cryptographic dependency across Ethereum had been migrated.

How Ethereum is preparing

The Ethereum Foundation’s Post-Quantum team describes work spanning consensus, data availability, and execution. Its roadmap is explicitly a living document reflecting rough directional consensus, subject to research and governance. It should be read as a work program rather than a set of guaranteed delivery dates.

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  • Validator signatures: The team is exploring hash-based signatures such as leanXMSS as a possible post-quantum direction for validators.
  • Aggregation: Since current consensus signatures can be aggregated efficiently, the team is examining a minimal zkVM or leanVM approach to aggregation under post-quantum constraints.
  • Data availability: Post-quantum data availability and blobs are among the work areas, reflecting that commitments and scaling components also need consideration.
  • Execution support: Execution-layer signature precompiles and longer-term post-quantum transactions are part of the described work.
  • Accounts and contracts: Account abstraction and signature agility are avenues for account-level migration. Smart contracts may need their own upgrades where they rely on cryptographic primitives that become vulnerable.

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What migration could cost both ecosystems

Post-quantum cryptography is not a drop-in label that makes existing signatures safe. New signature schemes can have larger signatures and may be less friendly to aggregation. Larger or less efficiently aggregated signatures can create practical costs for transaction data, verification, consensus, and network operation. Protocol designers must weigh security against performance and compatibility.

Migration also reaches beyond the protocol specification. Wallets need to create and manage the new keys; nodes and validators must verify the new signatures; exchanges, applications, and contract systems may depend on existing formats; and users need a safe way to move from old authorization schemes to new ones. Ethereum’s account abstraction and signature-agility work addresses part of that transition challenge, while Bitcoin proposals illustrate the separate difficulty of supporting new outputs and deciding how rules should treat older exposed coins.

Dormant funds make the problem especially difficult. A user who has lost access to a key cannot necessarily migrate, and a protocol change that stops accepting an old signature type could affect coins whose owner is absent. Bitcoin BIP 361 raises migration and dormant-asset questions; Ethereum’s materials also identify legacy or dormant exposure as a concern. Neither chain can resolve those questions solely through a wallet update.

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What users should do now

The evidence does not support moving assets solely because of speculative quantum-computing timelines, nor does it support buying a particular wallet or device as a way to make either network quantum-resistant. Personal key hygiene can reduce some exposure patterns, but only protocol and wallet-software changes that implement a migration can replace the vulnerable signature rules.

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  1. Understand what you control. A wallet manages keys and signs transactions; it does not independently change the consensus rules that determine which signatures a network accepts.
  2. For Bitcoin, avoid unnecessary address reuse where your wallet supports fresh receiving addresses. This can help limit some public-key exposure at rest, but it does not remove exposure from already revealed keys, every output type, or the period when a spend is unconfirmed.
  3. For Ethereum, distinguish receiving from sending. A receive-only account has an address hash onchain, while sending exposes its public key. This is useful context, not a reason to assume an account is currently under attack.
  4. Wait for official migration instructions before moving funds for this reason. Any real transition would need compatible wallet and protocol support, and should explain how to handle existing accounts or outputs.
  5. Evaluate announcements by status. A research effort, proposal, roadmap item, or activation decision are different milestones. A proposal title or roadmap listing alone does not mean a network upgrade is deployed.

Standards exist, but deployment is a separate step

NIST lists FIPS 203 for key encapsulation, FIPS 204 for module-lattice digital signatures, and FIPS 205 for stateless hash-based digital signatures as finalized on 2024-08-13. These standards show that post-quantum cryptographic standards have been formalized. They do not mean that Bitcoin or Ethereum has selected and deployed a compatible protocol migration, and they do not by themselves solve the networks’ governance, performance, or legacy-fund questions.

Is Ethereum more vulnerable than Bitcoin?

It is more accurate to say Ethereum exposes public keys more routinely for active accounts, while Bitcoin’s UTXO model can conceal some public keys until a spend and therefore reduce certain long-term exposure. That is a difference in exposure pattern, not a defensible ranking of overall quantum safety. The chains have different cryptographic surfaces, migration paths, and dormant-fund issues, and neither has completed the transition.

The practical conclusion is to take preparation seriously without treating Q-Day as imminent or assigning it a year. Google’s 2026 resource-estimate warning is a reason to prepare; the Ethereum Foundation’s assessment is that a cryptographically relevant machine is not believed imminent. Neither supports a dependable arrival date. Because a protocol migration takes engineering and coordination, users should look for official, actionable upgrade guidance rather than acting on a prediction.

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