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Bitcoin advocate Samson Mow believes quantum computing poses a far greater existential risk to legacy banks than to Bitcoin itself. The difference, he says, comes down to one word: incentive.
‼️ Legacy banks will completely collapse under a quantum attack because their ancient technology cannot adapt quickly. #Bitcoin will survive out of pure self-preservation because node runners will instantly upgrade to protect their life savings. 🟠 pic.twitter.com/Hsp7phsTPp
— JAN3 (@JAN3com) April 1, 2026
In a recent YouTube video, Mow argued that traditional financial institutions will struggle to survive a quantum attack. Their centralized, outdated systems cannot upgrade fast enough. Bitcoin, on the other hand, will adapt naturally because node runners have a direct financial incentive to protect their own holdings by quickly updating the software.
Mow reframes the quantum threat as a governance issue rather than a pure cryptography problem, and highlights Bitcoin’s decentralized structure as a key advantage over rigid legacy systems.
The technical reality is more nuanced. Quantum computers powerful enough to break Bitcoin’s current signature schemes do not exist yet. They may not arrive for years or even decades. Still, researchers are not waiting for the threat to materialize.
Google Quantum AI released a paper exploring quantum threats to cryptocurrency, citing Blockstream Research work on post-quantum cryptography.
Here’s what we’re building to prepare Bitcoin for quantum computers, using @Liquid_BTC as a production-grade sidechain and prove…
— Blockstream Research (@blksresearch) April 2, 2026
Blockstream Research has already implemented post-quantum signature verification on the Liquid Network, Bitcoin’s sidechain. The solution uses Simplicity smart contracts and a compact hash-based scheme called SHRINCS, which was built specifically for blockchain use.
Signatures can be as small as 324 bytes in stateful mode. It also includes a stateless fallback for recovery. Most importantly, the upgrade required no changes to Liquid’s consensus rules. Users who want quantum protection can simply opt in.
Blockstream researcher Jonas Nick has since introduced a second scheme, SHRIMPS, designed to address a limitation SHRINCS carries. Where SHRINCS is a single-device setup, SHRIMPS supports secure signing across multiple devices initialized from the same seed.
Signatures come in at roughly 2.5 KB at 128-bit security, smaller than stateless alternatives like SLH-DSA, which can reach 7.8 KB. The design has direct applications for Bitcoin wallets, where multi-device configurations are common.
Quantum computers could eventually break Bitcoin's current signature schemes, threatening coins in certain address types.
But preparation beats panic. @blksresearch, cited seven times in the latest @GoogleQuantumAI paper, has been laying the foundation for quantum resistance.… https://t.co/9MWSjd60jF
— Blockstream (@Blockstream) April 2, 2026
Blockstream Research has been cited seven times in the latest Google Quantum AI paper, placing it at the center of the industry’s most serious post-quantum cryptography work.
Blockstream is careful to note what its current implementation does not cover. The Bitcoin peg mechanism, Confidential Assets commitments and Liquid’s blocksigning consensus protocol all remain classically secured. The SHRINCS verifier is a first building block, with quantum-resistant solutions for these remaining components still in active development. That caveat matters for how Mow’s broader claim should be read.
Mow’s position is also heavily debated inside the Bitcoin community itself. Charles Edwards, founder of Capriole Investments, argues that Bitcoin must finalize and deploy BIP-360, a post-quantum signature proposal, by 2026, with coins that fail to migrate facing penalties by 2028. This directly challenges Mow’s view that the quantum threat is still too distant to require urgent action.
The Quantum threat is big and must be addressed with urgency this year. That said, it does not justify prices of $60K _today_, it's more than fully priced in.
— Charles Edwards (@caprioleio) February 6, 2026
Adam Back has also pushed back, stating that Bitcoin does not use encryption in the way many critics assume and that short-term break scenarios are largely driven by fear and misunderstanding.
Bitcoiners and developers are NOT in denial about defensively doing the r&d to prepare for future quantum computers. But they are just quietly doing research while you make uninformed noise and try to move the market or something. You're not helping…
— Adam Back (@adam3us) December 19, 2025
On the banking side, the reality is more structured than Mow suggests. JPMorgan Chase has already built a quantum-secured crypto-agile network in 2024. The network connects its data centers. BBVA is a founding member of the Quantum Safe Financial Forum, focused on making financial systems resilient to quantum attacks.
The narrative that banks will simply collapse while Bitcoin effortlessly self-heals overlooks the serious multi-year post-quantum migration programs already underway across major institutions.
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