Michael Saylor, co-founder of The Strategy and a prominent advocate for Bitcoin, has dismissed quantum computing as a “minor threat,” arguing that immediate dangers like phishing pose a much greater risk to the cryptocurrency. In an interview with Bloomberg, Saylor stated he would not “lose sleep” over the possibility of future quantum machines undermining Bitcoin’s cryptographic security.
Speaking on Bloomberg on Tuesday, Saylor downplayed the risks associated with the emerging technology:
“I don’t worry about it,” he said.
“Microsoft and Google market their quantum projects, but they would never sell a quantum computer that cracked cryptography, because it would destroy their own companies.”
While quantum computers have made progress in technical areas like error correction, encryption researchers have highlighted potential risks. A May research paper by Google suggested quantum computers could break the RSA encryption used in Bitcoin significantly faster than previously estimated, sparking concerns within the trillion-dollar crypto-industry.
Despite these scenarios, Saylor insisted quantum threats would first target systems “far more vulnerable” than Bitcoin, listing finance institutions and major tech companies as the initial targets if powerful quantum computing did emerge within the next 10-20 years:
“It’ll be a threat to Microsoft, Google, J.P. Morgan, and the U.S. government,” Saylor said.
Saylor expressed confidence in Bitcoin’s resilience, suggesting blockchain technology could be adjusted to withstand quantum attacks:
“You’ll see it coming a mile away, and every other digital entity in the world is more vulnerable to that threat than Bitcoin,” he stated.
In another Bloomberg interview, Saylor downplayed even the mainstream risks, directly comparing phishing attacks to quantum threats. He suggested an attacker would more likely resort to a “10,000 times more likely” phishing scam to steal cryptocurrency assets than rely on quantum computers.
Despite Saylor’s heavy emphasis on Bitcoin’s robustness, a 2024 World Economic Forum report did flag quantum computing as a global risk. It acknowledged the potential long-term threat of decrypting today’s encrypted data using future quantum methods.
The real-world impact of Saylor’s view is significant. His advocacy for holding Bitcoin worth nearly $64 billion since 2020 has been a driving factor for numerous companies now following his path.
