Galaxy Digital Pledges $5M for Bitcoin Quantum Readiness

Galaxy Digital on Tuesday launched a Bitcoin Quantum Readiness Initiative and pledged up to $5 million to fund developer grants, support a research program and convene a Quantum Advisory Council to address future quantum-computing risks to Bitcoin.

The Nasdaq-listed firm said the program will offer up to $5 million in grants for work on post-quantum cryptographic solutions, publish analysis through Galaxy Research and assemble an advisory council of academic experts. Galaxy named inaugural council members including University of Calgary professor Barry Sanders, MIT Sea Grant Knauss Fellow Damien Bérubé and Boston University computer scientist Eran Tromer. The company said it will begin accepting grant applications immediately.

The effort targets the moment researchers call “Q-Day,” when a quantum computer using Shor’s algorithm could derive private keys from exposed public keys, create valid signatures and move funds from vulnerable wallets. Addresses that have reused public keys or that expose a public key on-chain before funds are moved are considered most at risk.

Defenses under discussion include moving funds to addresses that use quantum-resistant cryptography and adopting new signature schemes proposed in BIP-360 and BIP-361. Galaxy noted those upgrades require cryptographic research and coordinated software and protocol updates, which can take years in a decentralized network. The company said the research program aims to make the technical threat clearer to investors and policymakers and that grants will fund developers doing implementation work.

Industry research has offered timelines and scope. One firm estimates a cryptographically relevant quantum computer is more likely than not by 2033 and possibly as early as 2030, and it calculated roughly 6.9 million bitcoin sit in addresses exposed to quantum risk. A separate advisory council put vulnerable supply at about 7 million BTC. In June, U.S. executive orders moved the federal deadline for post-quantum cryptography to December 2031.

On July 16, a quantum security company published a method intended to let users prove wallet ownership after Q-Day by demonstrating control of a parent key rather than relying on a signature. Project Eleven’s CEO described the approach as a fallback that lets users “prove ownership through derivation, not signature.”

Mike Novogratz, Galaxy’s founder and CEO, said, “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.” Alex Thorn, head of Galaxy Research, added the company intends to bridge a gap between rapid progress in quantum computing and the slower engagement of the Bitcoin development community, by producing research and funding technical work.