Billionaire financier Tim Draper believes that the conventional banking system faces a more immediate threat from quantum computing than Bitcoin does. The statements have raised a discussion about which financial institutions are at the greatest risk as the technology continues its rapid advancement into the mainstream.
Draper in an X post wrote that he feels his crypto investments are safer than the dollars stored in bank accounts. The financier’s opinion is supported by the fact that the banking infrastructure lacks the necessary safety measures that would allow a rollback to the last uncompromised block if a blockchain were to be hacked.
The statements come at a time when leading technology firms are pushing back the timelines for implementing post-quantum cryptography. According to reports by Moody’s Ratings, Google announced in March 2026 that the company was moving the implementation timeline to 2029. Cloudflare made the same announcement in April, while the 2035 deadline announced by the US Government for federal agencies remains the same.
Why could quantum computing become a major risk?
This risk is not only a theoretical one, but the issue is more deeply rooted. The Quantum Safe Financial Forum, which consists of members from the U.S., Europe, and Britain’s central banks, as well as MasterCard and Barclays, said in February 2025 that quantum machines could be available in 10-15 years’ time, although this might even come much faster.
The concern is not just about future decryption attacks. Financial institutions rely heavily on public-key cryptography for payment validation, interbank communications, identity checks, and other critical aspects of bank operations. This means that an attack by a quantum computer on elliptic curve cryptography will impact several layers at once, increasing operational and systemic risk.
In June 2026, Moody’s Ratings made its position clearer when it warned that the late adoption of post-quantum cryptography can be a source of credit risk. Quantum security investment is set to come into direct competition with AI expenditure, said the agency.
The problem was exacerbated by Google’s very own quantum AI research which revealed that cracking the encryption code had become 20 times easier than previous estimates. The amount of quantum computing (qubits) required for cracking P-256, a standardized algorithm used widely in financial services and government systems, would be approximately 26,000.
P-256 continues to be one of the most used elliptic-curve standards in banking systems, payment processors, government networks, and enterprise authentication systems. This explains why researchers increasingly focus on post-quantum migration timelines rather than waiting for fully mature quantum hardware.
Quantum computing to strengthen Bitcoin and crypto networks?
The way Draper describes quantum computing and its impact on cryptocurrencies turns the tables completely. Instead of regarding quantum computing as a threat to the cryptocurrency ecosystem, he sees it as “an opportunity”, stating that early quantum users will mine Bitcoin and strengthen the network’s security.
This optimism, however, comes under criticism. As noted by Jameson Lopp, the Chief Security Officer at self-custody firm Casa, upgrading Bitcoin to be quantum-resistant could take a decade, and nearly 4 million BTC (almost 25% of the entire supply) already have exposed public addresses. Lopp further argued that banks could upgrade “orders of magnitude faster,” directly going against Draper’s thesis, according to Sahm Capital, citing Benzinga’s earlier report.
This criticism brings one of the major differences between financial institutions and decentralized networks. Banks can enforce security upgrades via centralized governance mechanisms, whereas the improvements for Bitcoin would have to be agreed upon by developers, miners, exchanges, wallet providers, and node operators.
Bitcoin has seen a massive dump in the month of June 2026. BTC price dropped by almost 9% over the last 7 days. It is trading at $61,383 at press time.