Vaulted CEO: Quantum Computing May End Bitcoin in the Next 4 Years

Comparing news, according to Forbes, David McAlvany, CEO of the gold investment app Vaulted, said he believes Bitcoin may disappear within the next 4 years due to quantum computation. He said that once quantum computers can quickly solve the mathematical problem of protecting Bitcoin's private keys, it will be the end of Bitcoin.

However, McAlvany later admitted that she was unsure whether the relevant breakthrough would occur in 4, 5, or 2 months. As of mid-2026, there are no quantum computers capable of cracking Bitcoin's cryptographic algorithms. Its views are mainly based on concerns about the future development speed of quantum computing, rather than security incidents that have already occurred.

Galaxy Digital estimates that about 7 million BTC addresses have revealed public keys on the chain, worth about 470 billion dollars; Glassnode estimates 6.04 million pieces, accounting for 30.2% of the Bitcoin supply. Public key disclosure is not equivalent to assets being stolen. Only when quantum computers can reverse release private keys based on public keys can these addresses face actual risk of theft.

McAlvany also compared Bitcoin to gold and questioned whether Bitcoin could last for 5,000 years. He said that he is relatively sure that gold will still exist then, but Bitcoin may or may not exist.

Bitcoin developers are currently divided over the solution. BIP-360 proposes adding quantum-resistant address types; BIP-361 plans to phase out support for old-style signatures, and assets that have not been migrated in time may be permanently frozen, including Bitcoin believed to belong to Satoshi Nakamoto. Proponents believe that freezing assets is better than letting quantum attackers steal and sell them, while critics see it as confiscation.

Companies such as BOLTS Technologies and American Fortress are also developing cross-chain anti-quantum solutions. American Fortress closed a $8 million seed round in May and claimed that its technology can protect assets without requiring users to migrate their addresses, but the relevant technical papers have not been published, and the design has not been publicly audited.