Quantum computers are developing at pace and expected to be able to decrypt all manner of digital security systems much sooner than anticipated - perhaps in three years. Crypto currency firm Swyftx said the encryption protecting New Zealanders' money, medical records and government data could be vulnerable sooner than expected as artificial intelligence accelerates the development of quantum computing. Google recently warned quantum computers could be capable of breaking some of the cryptographic systems used in most internet transactions as early as 2029, as AI was helping to overcome technical barriers that once slowed quantum development. "Quantum is an exponential technology. It's not a problem until it is," Swyftx country manager Paul Quickenden said, adding the threat was closing in "faster than originally forecast." Quantum computers were expected to become capable of breaking common encryption systems by 2035, otherwise know as the year to quantum (Y2Q), but no longer. "The problem with quantum computing is that it is not a change that slowly arrives over time. On a single day, actually called Q-day, everything changes, and what once was secure is no longer," Quickenden said. "The threat is credible enough that responsible organisations should be acting now." Cybersecurity experts long warned sufficiently advanced quantum machines could break widely used encryption methods, including systems based on RSA and elliptic curve cryptography, which were used to secure online banking, encrypted communications, blockchain wallets and government data transfers. "If that encryption is broken, it is not broken in one sector or one country. It becomes a global issue," Quickenden said. The issue was not limited to digital currencies, as the same types of cryptography were used to protect communications, banking apps, access to government platforms, payment systems, health records, private communications and digital identity. The risk to the cryptocurrency sector was more immediate