Analysis: AI Will Accelerate Quantum Computing Threats, Crypto Industry May Enter an Era of Continuous Security Arms Race

According to Odaily, several blockchain and post-quantum cryptography researchers have warned that artificial intelligence (AI) is accelerating the development of quantum computing and could bring forward the impact on the security systems of mainstream blockchains, including Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Alex Pruden, CEO of Project Eleven, which focuses on quantum-resistant infrastructure, stated that the combination of AI and quantum computing is completely changing the future security landscape, and "people will no longer be able to rely on existing security assumptions as in the past."

Researchers pointed out that AI has already been used to optimize quantum error correction, which is one of the key technological bottlenecks in the development of quantum computing. Illia Polosukhin also stated that AI has been accelerating scientific breakthroughs for years, and in the future may even result in a cycle where "AI helps build the next generation of quantum computers," further accelerating progress.

One of the industry's main current concerns is the "Harvest Now, Decrypt Later" strategy, where governments or advanced attackers begin massively collecting encrypted data now, waiting for quantum computing to mature in the future to decrypt it all at once. Polosukhin warned that if quantum computers mature in a few years, "most important data on the internet today could be decrypted in the future."

As most current blockchain networks and internet infrastructures widely use Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC), in theory, a powerful enough quantum computer could derive private keys from public keys, directly compromising wallets and on-chain systems. At the same time, AI itself is strengthening hacking capabilities. Pruden noted that AI models are becoming increasingly adept at identifying software vulnerabilities and cryptographic implementation flaws, and may even directly break some encryption algorithms in the future.

However, AI is also used by developers for code auditing, formal verification, and post-quantum security system testing, creating an ongoing "security arms race" with upgrades on both offense and defense. Researchers believe the greatest change that AI and quantum computing bring together is that the core assumption of "long-term reliability of encryption" in the digital age is being shaken, and future security systems may shift from "static upgrades" to continuous and dynamic evolution.