Nine companies formed a group called the Bitcoin Security Consortium. The founding members include major industry names such as Strategy, BlackRock, Coinbase, and Galaxy. Also joining as members are Block, Blockstream, Fidelity Digital Assets, Anchorage Digital, and ARK Invest.
Each company decides where its own money goes. The consortium has no role in developing or governing Bitcoin's protocol, nor does it plan to adopt stances on protocol adjustments or represent Bitcoin developers in any official capacity. Mike Schmidt, executive director of Brink, will coordinate the group's day-to-day activities in a volunteer capacity.
Phong Le, CEO of Strategy, said: "As long-term holders, we have every incentive to see Bitcoin remain secure for generations."
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The group has selected post-quantum cryptography as its primary concern, observing that reliable projections indicate quantum computing remains years in the future.
The consortium's formation underscores a growing recognition among major financial and crypto institutions that quantum computing, while not imminent, poses an existential risk to Bitcoin's current cryptographic foundations. By pooling resources, these firms aim to accelerate the development of quantum-resistant signature schemes, a field that has seen increased attention from both academic researchers and government agencies. This proactive stance mirrors similar efforts in traditional finance and cybersecurity, where organizations are already transitioning to post-quantum standards to safeguard sensitive data.
Project Eleven estimated that "Q-Day," when quantum machines can crack current encryption, could arrive as soon as 2030, give or take a few years.
The quantum threat targets Bitcoin's underlying cryptography. Bitcoin currently relies on the Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) to secure transactions. A sufficiently powerful quantum computer could theoretically derive private keys from public keys, putting funds in addresses that have ever spent from them at risk.
Project Eleven's estimate of 6.9 million vulnerable bitcoins accounts for such exposed addresses. The consortium aims to fund research into quantum-resistant signature schemes, such as lattice-based or hash-based cryptography, to ensure the network can transition safely before Q-Day arrives.
Earlier this week, Galaxy launched its Bitcoin Quantum Readiness Initiative, offering as much as $5 million in developer grants to support post-quantum cryptographic tools, as well as creating a research initiative and an expert panel to address quantum computing risks facing Bitcoin. Last month saw President Donald Trump sign two executive orders that aim to accelerate U.S. quantum computing development, which include a requirement to finish transitioning federal high-value assets to post-quantum cryptography by 2031. Although the orders make no direct mention of Bitcoin, Project Eleven CEO Alex Pruden noted that they could expedite post-quantum cryptography work among federal contractors, which would in turn help the crypto industry.
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