Key Highlights
- Galaxy launched a $5 million initiative to support Bitcoin’s long-term quantum security.
- The program includes developer grants, ongoing research, and a Quantum Advisory Council of experts.
- The funding will prioritize quantum-resistant signatures, wallet migration tools, protocol proposals, and security audits.
Galaxy Digital Inc. (Nasdaq: GLXY), a financial services firm, today launched a dedicated initiative focused on protecting Bitcoin from future quantum computing threats, committing up to $5 million toward developer grants and assembling a group of academic experts to guide research.
In an official blog post, the company said Bitcoin’s long-term cryptographic security has gained momentum across the industry, with infrastructure providers arguing that waiting until quantum computers become capable of attacking Bitcoin would leave too little time for the network to respond.
Although experts agree that no quantum computer today can break Bitcoin’s cryptography, Galaxy argued that Bitcoin’s decentralized governance means major security upgrades require years of discussion, testing, and adoption before they become effective.
“As leaders in the digital assets space, we believe it’s important that we help be part of the solution to any potential threat quantum computing poses to Bitcoin,” Galaxy founder and CEO Mike Novogratz said.
Galaxy bets on early preparation
The initiative includes three components:
- Up to $5 million in grants for developers building post-quantum Bitcoin tools.
- A research program through Galaxy Research covering Bitcoin’s quantum readiness.
- A Quantum Advisory Council made up of cryptography and quantum computing experts.
According to Galaxy, funding will prioritize quantum-resistant signature schemes, wallet migration tools, implementation of post-quantum transaction proposals, and independent security audits.
Alex Thorn, Galaxy’s Head of Firmwide Research, said one challenge is that relatively few Bitcoin developers are currently focused on post-quantum cryptography. He added, “There’s a gap between the quantum computing world, which is moving fast, and the Bitcoin development world, which is just beginning to engage with post-quantum cryptography in earnest.”
Industry has been preparing for months
Galaxy’s announcement follows several major quantum-security initiatives that have emerged across the Bitcoin ecosystem this year. The move reflects growing concern that the network must prepare well before quantum computers become capable of attacking existing cryptography.
Earlier this month, BitGo rolled out new quantum-readiness tools for institutional Bitcoin custody, introducing quantum risk scoring, safer UTXO management, and guided migration features designed to help clients prepare if Bitcoin eventually adopts post-quantum cryptography.
Just weeks earlier, Blockstream highlighted post-quantum cryptography as one of its major engineering priorities in its Q2 2026 report, alongside upgrades to Liquid, Lightning, and its hardware wallet ecosystem.
At Consensus Miami, Project Eleven CEO Alex Pruden warned that Bitcoin’s eventual migration could prove harder than previous upgrades such as Taproot because nearly every exchange, wallet provider, custodian, institution, and individual user would ultimately need to participate.
Those developments suggest the conversation has shifted from asking whether Bitcoin should prepare for quantum computing to how the migration should eventually happen.
Why companies want to start early
Part of the urgency comes from developments outside crypto. The U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) finalized its first post-quantum cryptography standards in 2024, while the U.S. government has already directed federal agencies to begin transitioning toward quantum-resistant cryptography over the coming years.
Galaxy argued Bitcoin cannot simply wait until quantum computers become capable of breaking existing encryption because protocol changes require broad community consensus and often take years to deploy. That makes early research and testing just as important as the eventual technical solution itself.
Bitcoin’s biggest challenge may be coordination
Unlike traditional software platforms, Bitcoin cannot simply push a security update once a threat appears.
Any migration to quantum-resistant cryptography would require developers, miners, exchanges, wallet providers, custodians, and users to coordinate around new standards while ensuring billions of dollars worth of Bitcoin remains secure throughout the transition.
For that reason, companies across the Bitcoin ecosystem are increasingly treating quantum preparedness as a long-term engineering challenge rather than a distant theoretical risk.
Also Read: NEAR Launches Quantum-Safe Mainnet Upgrade With Resharding
