BTC, ETH, XRP: Which Crypto Assets Are Most at Risk From Quantum Computing?

BTC, ETH, and XRP quantum resistance is still a relative debate because all three assets rely on quantum-vulnerable elliptic-curve cryptography today. The useful comparison is which network looks more exposed now and which one could migrate faster if a cryptographically relevant quantum computer arrives.

Why the ranking depends on what is being measured

What quantum-resistant means in practice

Cambridge’s review of 24 of the top 26 blockchain protocols found that most still rely purely on quantum-vulnerable signature schemes. The same review said Bitcoin and Ethereum use ECDSA, while XRP Ledger also relies on elliptic-curve signatures, which means none of the three is quantum-safe today.

Cambridge’s revealed-public-key findings and XRPL’s key-replacement design point to two tests. Current exposure asks what could be attacked immediately, while migration readiness asks how fast a chain can move users to post-quantum authentication.

Market size raises the stakes for Bitcoin. With a $1.42 trillion market cap, it would carry the largest coordination burden if wallets, exchanges, and dormant holders had to migrate in a rush, a backdrop to coverage such as RAVE Price Surge as Bitcoin Dips Toward $71K.

Current exposure and upgrade agility point to different leaders

Ethereum may be the most exposed today

Cambridge wrote that Ethereum may be more exposed than Bitcoin because any address that has already sent a transaction reveals its public key. On that metric, the review said a cryptographically relevant quantum computer arriving now could put the majority of circulating ETH at risk.

Bitcoin may be harder to migrate at scale

Chaincode’s 2025 report estimated that about 6.26 million BTC could be stolen by a cryptographically relevant quantum computer, while the literature surveyed in the same paper spans from just over 4 million BTC to almost 10 million BTC. That is narrower than Ethereum’s public-key problem, but harder to coordinate across vulnerable coins, legacy wallets, and exchange infrastructure.

XRP looks more agile on key rotation, not fully protected

XRPL documentation says an account can authorize a regular key pair and remove or replace that key pair without changing the rest of the account. That gives XRP a relative edge on signer rotation, a different question from the price-centric comparisons in XRP or ADA in a Post-War Rally? ChatGPT Picks the Winner, but not full protection once a public key is exposed.

One unconfirmed XRP-specific estimate came from XRPL analyst Vet on X, who argued that many untouched accounts have not yet revealed public keys. The supplied research did not include an official XRPL dataset confirming that claim.

Quick XRP acc quantum vulnerability check.

~300,000 accounts on XRP holding 2.4B XRP never transacted, thus public key unknown and quantum safe.

while only 2 accounts with larger holdings of 21M XRP are dormant (inactive over 5 years) and have their public key exposed.

Dormant…

— Vet (@Vet_X0) April 7, 2026

What would actually make any of these assets quantum-resistant

Cambridge’s note that NIST has finalized post-quantum cryptography standards means the bottleneck is now implementation. The harder work is shipping protocol upgrades, wallet support, and user migration tools before exposed coins or accounts can be targeted.

The Ethereum Foundation’s roadmap says account abstraction is the execution-layer path for opt-in quantum-safe authentication and currently targets 2029 for L1 upgrades. Bitcoin has no similarly dated migration endpoint in the supplied research, and XRP’s flexible regular-key design still cannot protect accounts whose public keys are already known.

Using Cambridge’s public-key exposure framework and Chaincode’s 6.26 million BTC estimate, the cleanest conclusion is conditional. Ethereum looks most exposed today, Bitcoin looks hardest to migrate at scale, and XRP looks relatively nimble on key rotation, while shorter-term narratives still dominate coverage such as Why Bitcoin Tanked After Peace Talks Failed and What Comes Next.