Europol warns that crypto wallets are a key risk vector for quantum attacks, and recommends proactively advancing quantum-resistant migration.

Europol has released two reports urging the crypto industry and policymakers to proactively prepare for the threat of quantum computing. The EU law enforcement agency’s European Cybercrime Centre identified crypto wallets as a primary risk point for quantum threats: a sufficiently powerful quantum computer could derive private keys from exposed public keys, enabling unauthorized asset transfers. By contrast, hash functions that underpin blockchains and mining remain largely resistant to quantum attacks. The reports note that cryptocurrencies will not collapse due to quantum computing, but recommend a phased migration to post-quantum cryptography, alongside improvements to wallet security and key management. For wallets whose public keys are already publicly visible on-chain, the reports advise moving funds before an attack occurs. The reports also point out that standardized post-quantum signatures are 10 to 120 times larger than Bitcoin’s current ECDSA signatures, which could increase block space pressure, drive up transaction fees, and slow transaction confirmations. The second report focuses on the "collect now, decrypt later" risk: attackers gather encrypted data now to crack it once quantum technology matures. There is currently no clear evidence that this tactic has been systematically or widely deployed, though government communications and corporate confidential data are seen as the most likely targets.