Quantum Computing May Be Impacting Bitcoin’s Valuation: Here’s How

Analyst Willy Woo argues that the 12-year trend of Bitcoin outperforming gold has broken because market awareness of quantum computing risks has increased. These risks stem from the potential for future fault-tolerant quantum computers running Shor's algorithm to derive private keys from Bitcoin's current elliptic curve cryptography (ECDSA). While such technology is not imminent (estimated 5 to 15 years away), Woo believes the market is pricing in the risk of approximately 4 million 'lost' BTC becoming accessible if quantum breakthroughs occur, which would significantly increase supply. This uncertainty causes Bitcoin to trade at a lower valuation relative to gold, especially when macro investors might otherwise seek hard assets like gold during debt deleveraging. Complementary views suggest this risk has already driven price action, with some institutional investors, like Jefferies strategist Christopher Wood, reducing Bitcoin exposure in favor of gold and mining stocks due to these quantum concerns.

(Source：BeInCrypto)