The market appears to be reassessing the long-term technology risks in the cryptocurrency space after Google released a major quantum computing research update on Monday.
While leading currencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum (ETH) prices were little changed, but certain cryptocurrencies related to quantum-resistant cryptography experienced significant strength.
The outperformance of so-called quantum-resistant tokens shows how quickly markets are pricing in potential technology risks, even if those risks remain theoretical. Although a quantum computer capable of attacking Bitcoin is still years away, traders have already expressed interest in the “future-proof” asset.
Late Monday, Google’s quantum artificial intelligence team said a quantum computer could break the elliptic curve cryptography used by Bitcoin with fewer than 500,000 quantum qubits, far fewer than previously estimated. This has prompted some analysts to view 2029 as a potential deadline for Bitcoin and the broader blockchain ecosystem to strengthen its defenses.
The study claims that a sufficiently advanced quantum computer could attack Bitcoin in nine minutes. Another report highlights vulnerabilities in Ethereum, identifying five potential attack vectors that could put an estimated $100 billion in assets at risk, including DeFi and tokenized assets.
However, such a machine did not exist and remained a threat years later.
Nonetheless, over the past 24 hours, the market has shown growing interest in cryptocurrencies and projects that emphasize post-quantum cryptographic designs, future-proof security research, or appear to be relatively more resilient than traditional chains.
Notably, Quantum Resistant Ledger (QRL) and Cellframe (CEL) surged by 50%, reflecting the market’s growing focus on true post-quantum protocols, according to data source Coingecko. Other coins in the category such as Abelian (ABEL) are up 25%, while Qubic (QUBIC) and QANplatform (QANX) are up 10% each, and even privacy-focused Zcash (ZEC) is up nearly 7% over the same period.
The market capitalization of the group, which consists of 20 tokens, has increased by 8% in the past 24 hours to $4.66 billion. It is worth noting that ZEC is not yet truly quantum resistant, but is still placed in this category by data sources due to its advanced cryptographic foundations (such as zero-knowledge proofs) and ongoing research into post-quantum secure ZK-SNARKs. These factors make it part of the “quantum consciousness” narrative, even if it does not yet fully realize post-quantum cryptography.
While these risks remain largely theoretical, they have been influencing market behavior since last year. Capriole Investments founder Charles Edwards said concerns about quantum attacks caused Bitcoin to decouple from rising stock markets in the second half of 2025, with the cryptocurrency slipping from $126,000 to $80,000 in the final months of the year.
“We are already starting to see quantum risk priced into Bitcoin,” Edwards said in a February report. “This is the main reason why Bitcoin is trading at -50% against the S&P 500 and -90% against gold since the first Bitcoin Quantum Summit seven months ago.”
Coincidentally, this was the period when ZEC, the anti-quantum leader, was rising sharply. ZEC surged over 1,200% in the second half of 2025, hitting a high of $744.