Quantum won’t kill crypto—but it could speed Wall Street’s move to blockchain

The useful part

Quantum won't kill crypto says Franklin Templeton's Crypto Head | Fortune Home Latest Fortune 500 Finance Tech Leadership Lifestyle Rankings Multimedia Some Fortune Crypto pricing data is provided by Binance. Add us on Google Add us on Google For many in the crypto industry, the specter of quantum computing has become the stuff of existential dread. According to popular doomer narratives, public blockchains like Bitcoin will be among the first target of quantum-based attacks that will wipe out trillions of dollars.

How it works

• The doomers argue that networks like Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana will be helpless against a threat that will one day smash the public-key cryptography that has long made them secure.
• Exposed are hundreds of trillions of dollars of the world's assets, as well as our most sensitive private data.
• Builders of these networks have learned to become survivors, constantly patching up vulnerabilities and both anticipating and responding to myriad other threats.
• Back in 2018, for example, the SWIFT network began a major initiative to modernize its 1970s-era global banking-transfer messaging technology.
• Granted, SWIFT is a sprawling network of 11,000 institutions that had to coordinate efforts across 200 countries.

What to take from it

Because of a long-held open-source ethos, public blockchains and associated infrastructure have long faced attack by malicious actors. While the threat is real, the conclusion–that quantum will kill crypto–is simply wrong. Much of the internet as we know it is vulnerable to Q-day, or the moment when quantum machines finally muster the capacity to pick the locks of the world's existing encryption defenses.

Example or evidence

• Compared to other industries, the crypto industry's response to new cyberthreats has been lightning fast and, indeed, many have already sprung to action in building defenses ahead of Q-day's arrival.
• Indeed, leading blockchain organizations have published comprehensive plans [JJR1] for achieving post-quantum readiness well before 2030.
• I'm instead optimistic that blockchain technology most often portrayed as quantum computing's first casualty, could instead become one of the foundations on which the financial system rebuilds.
• Yet, amid this scramble to shore up our digital bulwarks, the one industry that seems to have experienced a particular sense of foreboding over quantum advancements also happens to be the most capable of...

Details worth keeping

Crypto quantum computing Quantum won't kill crypto—but it could accelerate Wall Street's adoption of blockchain By Chris Perkins Chris Perkins By Chris Perkins Chris Perkins September 25, 2026, 9:00 AM ET Add Fortune on Google for similar content. This makes for a dramatic story, but the premise is misguided. Alarmed, governments have responded by mandating action plans to prepare.

Related coverage

• Cointelegraph: EU supervisors warn quantum computing could weaken blockchain security as Bitcoin developers weigh a draft migration plan and Ethereum targets 2029.
• Fortune: Two veteran financial attorneys say once-exotic blockchain are already being integrated into traditional finance.
• Crypto: EU financial watchdogs warn quantum computing could weaken blockchain cryptography as Bitcoin developers debate protecting exposed keys.
• Cryptopotato: Rushing early into post-quantum cryptography could create risks, including bugs or scams posing as wallet upgrades.