Glassnode research finds 6.26M BTC (31.2% of supply) held in addresses with publicly exposed keys, creating quantum computing vulnerability; 57% of exchange holdings affected.
Macro & Markets ·
Glassnode research has identified approximately 6.26 million BTC—31.2% of total supply—held in addresses with publicly visible keys on the blockchain, creating exposure to potential quantum computing attacks. The analysis also found that 57% of exchange holdings fall into this category, representing a concentration of risk among custodial platforms.
Addresses with visible public keys become vulnerable when quantum computers reach sufficient computational power to derive private keys from the exposed public cryptographic material. Users with BTC in such addresses are reportedly being advised to migrate their holdings to enhanced security configurations, though the timeline for quantum threats to materialize remains uncertain.
The scope of the exposure—affecting nearly a third of all circulating BTC—raises questions about adoption barriers for moving funds, the technical feasibility of a coordinated migration, and whether current wallet standards adequately default users away from public-key exposure. Whether and how exchanges and individual holders will respond to this finding remains open.