{"id":389055,"date":"2026-04-20T17:33:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T17:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/389055\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T17:33:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T17:33:09","slug":"quantum-technologys-threat-to-bitcoin-blockchain-not-fazing-cryptocurrency-experts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/389055\/","title":{"rendered":"Quantum technology’s threat to Bitcoin blockchain not fazing cryptocurrency experts"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Conceptual<\/p>\n

\nA conceptual illustration of a blockchain system.
\nPhoto: AFP \/ Sergii Iaremenko \/ Science Photo Library\n<\/p>\n

Cryptocurrency and blockchain experts, investors, financial advisors appear unfazed by immediate threats to the Bitcoin blockchain posed by quantum technology<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Google has issued a white paper urging the Bitcoin community to take urgent action to upgrade blockchain security as advances in quantum technology increase the risk of fraudulent transactions<\/a> and theft.<\/p>\n

New Zealand Blockchain Forum executive director Trevor Topfer said quantum computing posed a greater risk to global financial systems<\/a> than to Bitcoin.<\/p>\n

Topfer said the blockchain community was working at pace to secure blockchains against the quantum threat, and Bitcoin was no exception.<\/p>\n

\"New<\/p>\n

\nNew Zealand Blockchain Forum executive director Trevor Topfer.
\nPhoto: Supplied \/ NZ Blockchain Forum\n<\/p>\n

“It’s easy to point the finger at Bitcoin, but I think that there’s a lot of other things that are a much bigger fish to fry than Bitcoin.<\/p>\n

“Less than 5 percent of the world’s population owns Bitcoin.<\/p>\n

“It’s a small threat to a small group of people when the entire world trades on SWIFT rails (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication), which would be much easier for quantum computing to undermine at a global scale than Bitcoin.”<\/p>\n

Topfer said quantum can break anything it goes after, with the threat probably coming much faster than current estimates<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“There’s no way we can let quantum loose on the financial system, because it will disrupt the entire financial system, whether it’s Bitcoin, whether it’s fiat currency, whether it’s Swift, whatever function within the financial system that Quantum goes after, it can hack and overcome and break. That’s the problem. That’s the quantum threat.”<\/p>\n

However, he said anything quantum breaks would make it stronger.<\/p>\n

“If you turn a quantum computer at blockchain to crack it, you can also turn a quantum computer at blockchain to build it right?”<\/p>\n

Blockchain seen as reshaping global infrastructure<\/p>\n

Blockchain was invented to facilitate Bitcoin transactions, and had expanded to serve as a secure layer of the internet.<\/p>\n

“Tthere’s an entire blue ocean of opportunity, because a blockchain is a better technology than what we have,” Topfer said, adding it had already completely rewired the global financial system.<\/p>\n

“We’ve got a lot of different opportunities coming down the pipe. We’ve got identity, we’ve got personal data ownership, health records, there’s supply chain benefits.<\/p>\n

“There’s already companies in New Zealand working in primary industry to use smart contracts and various other mechanisms that blockchain offers to find efficiencies and streamline those services.<\/p>\n

“There will always be an underlying layer of blockchain when we need security, validation and automation. Blockchain exists for that.”<\/p>\n

Sign up for Ng\u0101 Pitopito K\u014drero<\/a>, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A conceptual illustration of a blockchain system. Photo: AFP \/ Sergii Iaremenko \/ Science Photo Library Cryptocurrency and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":389056,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,47,111,43,139,69,49,46,44,45],"class_list":{"0":"post-389055","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz","14":"tag-podcasts","15":"tag-public-radio","16":"tag-radio-new-zealand","17":"tag-rnz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/389056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}