Security experts warn: AI is accelerating the threat of quantum computing, and the encryption industry faces a continuous security arms race

Deep Tide TechFlow News, May 24 — According to CoinDesk, several researchers in the fields of post-quantum cryptography and blockchain security stated that AI is accelerating the development of quantum computing and forcing the crypto industry to reevaluate the reliability of existing security systems.

Project Eleven CEO Alex Pruden pointed out that researchers are already using machine learning to optimize quantum error correction — one of the biggest engineering bottlenecks in quantum computing. Illia Polosukhin, co-founder of NEAR Protocol and former Google AI researcher, warned that the "harvest now, decrypt later" strategy poses a real threat, meaning attackers collect encrypted traffic now and decrypt it once quantum computers are mature — "this is very likely already happening."

Since most blockchain networks rely on elliptic curve cryptography similar to the internet, once quantum computers become powerful enough, they could theoretically derive private keys from public keys, thereby compromising wallets and systems. Researchers note that the combination of AI and quantum computing is creating a continuous security arms race, where security defenses will no longer be static infrastructure but must continuously evolve and upgrade. Currently, multiple blockchain ecosystems such as Ethereum, Solana, and NEAR are actively advancing post-quantum cryptography migration plans.