Coinbase’s Independent Advisory Board on Quantum Computing and Blockchain has published a warning that sufficiently powerful quantum computers could one day break the cryptographic primitives protecting digital assets. The board says it has high confidence such machines will eventually be built, but they are not yet available and would need to be many orders of magnitude more capable than today’s quantum hardware—likely at least a decade away.
The report evaluates how various blockchains might withstand a quantum-era attack and highlights Algorand and Aptos as comparatively well prepared for a transition to post-quantum security. Algorand is singled out for its staged roadmap to quantum readiness and for already deploying quantum-resistant cryptographic primitives at the transaction and execution layers. On Algorand, users can create quantum-resistant accounts without changing the protocol, and the network recorded its first quantum-resistant mainnet transaction. Still, the board cautions that some Algorand components—such as block proposal mechanisms and committee voting—remain susceptible and are the subject of ongoing research to harden them.
Aptos earns praise for its account model, which stores a user’s public key as account metadata instead of deriving addresses from hashed public keys. That design allows a user to update their authentication key to a post-quantum public key with a single transaction, without moving assets to a new account—simplifying remediation and reducing exposure.
The advisory also warns that proof-of-stake networks—including Ethereum and Solana—may face elevated risk because of the signature schemes used by validators. Solana has introduced a new signature scheme and provides a migration path that lets users move tokens to addresses based on the upgraded scheme, thereby reducing quantum exposure. Ethereum, too, has a roadmap to transition to quantum-resistant signature alternatives.
Recommended remediation strategies in the report focus on preparing and migrating users: encouraging wallet providers and custodians to adopt quantum-proof wallets and giving token holders clear, practical migration paths. The board emphasizes the danger that assets associated with quantum-vulnerable keys could become irretrievably compromised if owners do not migrate them before a capable quantum adversary appears.
While the advisory stresses urgency in planning and deploying defenses, it reiterates that the quantum threat to blockchains is not immediate. The message to projects and users is to design and test migration paths, adopt post-quantum cryptography where feasible, and prioritize research on components still vulnerable to quantum attacks so networks can transition smoothly when the technology arrives.