(1 April 2026 – United States) Google is urging the financial services industry to urgently prepare for future quantum computers that could crack complex digital asset encryption and cryptography with fewer resources than previously anticipated.
A future quantum computer could break elliptic-curve cryptography with new Google Research estimates revealing an enormous reduction in the amount of quantum computing hardware required to break ECDLP-256.
Breaking the elliptic curve cryptography protecting Bitcoin, Ether and most major cryptocurrencies could require fewer than 500,000 physical qubits on a superconducting quantum computer – an almost 20 times reduction from prior estimates which estimated the figure in the millions.
The Google Quantum AI researchers urged the crypto industry to shift toward post-quantum cryptography (PQC) and to take active steps to mitigate avoidable risks, stressing “we urge all vulnerable cryptocurrency communities to join the migration to PQC without delay”.
“My confidence in q-day by 2032 has shot up significantly. I estimate at least a ten percent chance that a quantum computer recovers a private key from an exposed public key by then” commented Ethereum Foundation Researcher Justin Drake.
“The Google Research paper’s warnings are a time for responsible urgency. The timeline is becoming shorter and more credible. What this research does is tighten the window in which the industry needs to progress research and agree on a plan of action. The good news is that the problem remains addressable” commented CoinShares Investment Strategist, Matthew Kimmell.
A single quantum computing attack on a major US bank could cost the American economy trillions of dollars according to a new Citi GPS report. The Citi Global Perspectives & Solutions (GPS) report Quantum Threat – The Trillion-Dollar Security Race Is On warns that the window to protect the financial system is closing.
Explore what is coming next with quantum computing in Tech Mahindra’s white paper Building the AI-Driven Bank of Tomorrow.
The analysis is based on proprietary global research by East & Partners bringing together the combined voices of 150 senior banking executives across the Asia Pacific (APAC), Americas, Europe, and the Nordics. Over 1 in 3 financial institutions (FIs) are already investing aggressively in GenAI to capture early-mover advantage (37%).
European banks (49%) are outpacing peers in AI investment by a considerable margin, ahead of Americas (39%), the Nordics (32%) and APAC (26%). However, 1 in 4 banks still struggle to adopt new AI solutions, risking being left behind (25%)
