Shor's Grief: Bitcoin Devs Are Already Killing Quantum FUD Before It Exists

JAN3 CEO Samson Mow isn't losing sleep over quantum computers threatening Bitcoin. In fact, he's already writing the technology's eulogy—even though quantum computers capable of breaking BTC's cryptography don't exist yet. The man is essentially ghost-hunting quantum computing before it even shows up to haunt his private keys.

Critics have been spreading quantum computing FUD, claiming powerful quantum machines could eventually crack Bitcoin's ECDSA signatures using Shor's algorithm. It's a legitimate theoretical concern, sure. But Mow's counter-argument? Developers aren't waiting around. They're not the type to panic-book flights when they see a spider in the shower—they start building better showers.

"Bitcoin defenses against non-existent quantum computers is moving along at an incredibly fast pace," Mow noted. "There's also the prototype from @roasbeef too. RIP QC FUD. 🪦" Imagine writing obituaries for threats that still require more qubits than most crypto influencers have followers.

He's referencing the Quantum Safe Bitcoin (QSB) paper, which proposes quantum-resistant transactions using a hash-to-signature puzzle relying on RIPEMD-160 preimage resistance instead of ECDSA. Additionally, Lightning Labs CTO Olaoluwa "Roasbeef" Osuntokun released a prototype using zk-STARK proofs for wallet recovery of BIP-32-derived keys. Because nothing says "I told you quantum was overhyped" like shipping production-grade solutions before the existential crisis even properly materializes.

In October 2025, Capriole Investments head Charles Edwards suggested quantum computers might need roughly 700 usable qubits to breach Bitcoin's elliptic curve signatures—potentially within two to three years. That's roughly 693 more qubits