Europol Warns Crypto Wallets Are 'Primary Risk' for Quantum Attacks

In brief Europol, the European Union's law enforcement agency, published two reports Wednesday urging the crypto industry and policymakers to prepare now for quantum computing threats.

The first, Quantum Computing and Cryptocurrencies, produced by Europol's European Cybercrime Centre, identifies cryptocurrency wallets as "the primary point of exposure to quantum threats."

Wallets rely on a pair of keys: a private key that authorizes transactions and a public key the network uses to verify them.

"Cryptocurrencies will not collapse due to quantum computing," the report concludes, while recommending “proactive defence” to ensure their long-term security.

It describes a "just-in-time" attack, in which a quantum computer derives a private key during the short window between a transaction exposing its public key and that transaction being confirmed.