Lorenzo Valente, Director of Research for Digital Assets at ARK Invest, says he is more optimistic than a year ago that Bitcoin will deploy a quantum fix before “Q Day,” the hypothetical moment when a quantum computer could break the cryptography protecting the network. As of October 11, 2026, approximately 7.1 million BTC, or about 35% of the circulating supply, sits in addresses with exposed public keys vulnerable to Shor’s algorithm attack. The white paper co-authored by ARK and Unchained in March 2026 frames quantum risk as a gradual threat rather than a sudden event, giving developers time to ship protocol upgrades. Most Bitcoin addresses use hashed versions of public keys, which are considered more resilient since the actual public key remains hidden until funds are spent. Draft proposals such as BIP-360 are under consideration to strengthen Bitcoin’s defenses against quantum threats.
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