TL;DR
- Galaxy launched a quantum readiness initiative for Bitcoin, injecting around $5 million in subsidies for developers of post-quantum solutions.
- The company formed a Quantum Advisory Council with experts from universities including Calgary and Boston, and activated a research program.
- NIST finalized its first post-quantum cryptography standards in 2024 and an executive order set 2031 as the deadline for the federal government to protect itself.
Galaxy announced the launch of the Galaxy Bitcoin Quantum Readiness Initiative, a program structured around three pillars aimed at preparing Bitcoin for the advance of quantum computing.
The firm will commit up to $5 million in subsidies for developers and researchers working on post-quantum cryptographic solutions, focusing on proposals for quantum-resistant transactions, post-quantum signature schemes and migration tools for wallets and custodians. Subsidy applications can be submitted immediately to [email protected].
Today we're launching the Galaxy Bitcoin Quantum Readiness Initiative.
No quantum computer today can break Bitcoin's security. But that could change faster than expected, and Bitcoin is slow to update by design. We love Bitcoin and believe in its long-term importance and… pic.twitter.com/DGYFwRmddJ
— Galaxy (@galaxyhq) July 21, 2026
Governments Prepare for the Quantum Threat
Bitcoin’s security rests on elliptic curve cryptography, a scheme that a sufficiently powerful quantum computer could compromise. Although that type of machine does not yet exist, the estimated timelines for its development are shortening. The United States National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) finalized its first post-quantum cryptography standards in 2024, and a recent executive order set 2031 as the deadline for the federal government to defend its critical infrastructure against quantum attacks on classical cryptography.
Galaxy’s Quantum Advisory Council
To guide the initiative, Galaxy formed a Quantum Advisory Council comprising Barry Sanders, professor and scientific director of Quantum City at the University of Calgary; Damien Bérubé, MIT Sea Grant Knauss Fellow; and Eran Tromer, professor of Computer Science at Boston University. The council will meet regularly with the firm’s research team and executives to evaluate subsidy proposals and contribute to the initiative’s public reports.
Mike Novogratz, founder and CEO of Galaxy, noted that the company has a responsibility to “contribute to the solution against any potential threat that quantum computing poses to Bitcoin“. For his part, Alex Thorn, the firm’s head of research, highlighted that a gap exists between the world of quantum computing, which is advancing rapidly, and the Bitcoin development ecosystem, which is only beginning to incorporate post-quantum cryptography as a real priority. Galaxy also invited other institutions and ecosystem stakeholders to co-fund subsidies and contribute to the collective effort.
