[Futuristic Quantum Computer Concept Art. Credit to: OpenAI, DALL·E]

On January 4, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang’s CES 2025 keynote alleviated mounting concerns regarding quantum computing’s threat to blockchain security. 

Huang remarked that “very useful” quantum computers are still 15 to 30 years away, a statement that eased recent market panic sparked by Google’s quantum breakthrough in December 2024.

Just a month prior, Google unveiled its quantum chip, Willow, which solved a complex problem in under five minutes—a task that would have taken classical supercomputers 10 septillion years to complete. 

The announcement triggered immediate market turbulence: Bitcoin plummeted 10%, with other cryptocurrencies following suit, as fears surged that quantum computing could soon compromise blockchain’s cryptographic foundations.

Speculation surged over whether  quantum computing would render blockchain-based security obsolete in the near future.

Yet Huang's comments in January tempered such concerns. His comments suggested that any real-world impact of quantum computing is still decades away. 

In a sudden and wild reversal, shares in quantum computing firms fell by more than 40% apiece for IonQ and Rigetti Computing. Investors in blockchain, for their part, appear more confident for now.

Despite Huang’s cautious outlook, NVIDIA itself seems to be betting big on quantum computing's future. 

Just weeks after Huang’s CES remarks, NVIDIA announced a major hiring push for quantum computing specialists and scheduled a dedicated event at GTC 2025 in March—signaling long-term confidence in the field, regardless of its CEO's tempered remarks. 

The company has invited key industry leaders such as  D-Wave, IonQ, and Rigetti to discuss the road of quantum development, adding even more speculation that Huang was trying to tame market volatility rather than stating a fact about NVIDIA's position.

Experts remain divided on quantum computing’s potential to disrupt encryption.

Some have stated that fears around blockchain encryption being broken by quantum computers are vastly overstated. 

Even Google’s powerful Willow chip is, even in this case, far from one million qubits that are required to break any contemporary cryptographic standard. 

Other leading quantum computers include IBM's Condor with 1021 qubits and Microsoft's recent prototypes at 24 qubits, though powerful, have high error rates-performing operations that rule them out for large-scale cryptographic attacks.

Nonetheless, the U.S. government and major tech companies are pouring millions into post-quantum cryptography to safeguard financial institutions and blockchain networks from potential threats posed by future quantum computers capable of breaking modern encryption.

Meanwhile, the Korean government announced plans to develop a 1000-qubit quantum computer by 2032, which is far behind U.S. giants such as IBM and Google, which have already surpassed the 1000-qubit milestone.

As critics argue, numeric targets are not what will be needed, but rather the nurturing of quantum talent and the building of research ecosystems that determine Korea's real competitiveness in the field.

Quantum computing is not solely a matter of qubits counts; it's about sustaining the pipeline of researchers and discovering new applications. 

As the global quantum revolution accelerates, one thing is certain: the battle between quantum computing and encryption is far from over.

In the meantime, industries must adapt and innovate to prepare for a future where quantum computing emerges as a formidable force reshaping cybersecurity and finance.