Michael Saylor Shrugs Off Quantum Computing Threat To Bitcoin, Warns Companies Like Microsoft, Google More Vulnerable: 'You'll See It Coming A Mile Away'

Leading Bitcoin BTC/USD advocate Michael Saylor is not too worried about quantum computing’s potential threat to the network’s security.

What Happened: During an interview with Bloomberg that aired Tuesday, the Strategy co-founder was asked about the possibility of quantum computing breaking Bitcoin’s cryptography.

“I don’t worry about it,” Saylor replied. “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.”

Saylor said that while powerful computers may pose a threat to modern cryptography in the next 10-20 years or so, companies like Microsoft Corp. MSFT, Google [Alphabet Inc. GOOGL GOOG], and JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM will be more vulnerable.

“When it is a threat, all of these organizations will upgrade their cryptography protocols to be quantum-resistant,” he predicted. “You will see it coming a mile away, and every other digital entity in the world is more vulnerable to that idea or threat than Bitcoin.

Benzinga reached out to Microsoft and Google for comment on the claims made by Saylor.

Why It Matters: Saylor’s optimism comes despite growing concerns about the vulnerability of Bitcoin to quantum computing. A study by Google last month suggested that quantum computers could crack RSA encryption, similar to the Elliptic Curve Cryptography algorithm used in securing Bitcoin, 20 times faster than expected.

Concerns over Bitcoin's cryptography have been mounting since the release of Google's next-generation quantum chip, “Willow," last year. The chip can solve a standard benchmark computation in under five minutes, a task that would take the world’s fastest supercomputers 10 septillions, or 10^25, years to solve.

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While some experts ruled out immediate dangers, others advocated for proactive measures to prepare for the threat, such as switching to quantum-resistant algorithms.

A study led by the University of Kent’s School of Computing estimated that a protocol update to protect Bitcoin from quantum computing threats would require taking the cryptocurrency offline for about 76 days, provided 100% of the bandwidth is committed to the process.

Price Action: Interestingly, quantum computing stocks such as Quantum Computing Inc. QUBT and Rigetti Computing Inc. RGTI have been on a tear lately.

QUBT closed 25% higher at $18.97 on Wednesday, according to data from Benzinga Pro. Over the month, the stock has surged 108%. Similarly, RGTI rallied 11.3% to $12.51 on Wednesday.

QUBT demonstrated a very high momentum score as of this writing. To check out how other quantum computing stocks stack up, visit Benzinga Edge Stock Rankings.