Researchers Warn: AI is Accelerating the Development of Quantum Computing, Posing a Potential Threat to the Security of the Cryptography Industry

May 24th: Security researchers are warning that AI is accelerating quantum computing’s development—and could pose an early threat to the modern encryption systems powering networks like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Project Eleven CEO Alex Pruden stated, “The future security landscape will be completely different. The combination of quantum computing and AI will make all the security approaches we’ve used in the past unreliable.” The report notes AI has been used to optimize key technical bottlenecks such as quantum error correction, which could cut down on the actual time to bring functional quantum computers to life. NEAR co-founder Illia Polosukhin also pointed out AI is speeding up scientific progress, adding, “We might even build the next generation of quantum computers with AI’s help.” Researchers are also worried about a growing “collect first, decrypt later” strategy: some governments or institutions are preemptively hoarding encrypted data now, waiting for future mature quantum computers to decrypt it all at once. Since blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum rely heavily on Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC), a powerful enough quantum computer could theoretically pull private keys from public keys—putting crypto wallet security at risk. Right now, several blockchain ecosystems—including Ethereum, Solana, Zcash, Ripple, and NEAR—are researching or rolling out “post-quantum cryptography” migration plans. But researchers say current post-quantum encryption schemes have critical issues: they are too bulky and slow. That means the crypto industry will likely enter a long phase of constantly upgrading its security systems moving forward.