Ethereum Better Positioned if Bitcoin Faces Quantum Risks: Analyst

David Hoffman argues ETH has no technical dependency on Bitcoin, so a halt in BTC blocks wouldn’t affect Ethereum’s core operations.

Bankless co-founder David Hoffman has said that Ethereum would continue functioning normally even if Bitcoin were to fail due to the threat posed by quantum computing.

His remarks follow renewed discussions about the potential impact of the technology on the leading cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin’s Collapse Would Not Kill Crypto

In a recent article shared on X, Hoffman challenged the common belief that all cryptocurrencies would collapse if Bitcoin failed. The discussion was started by entrepreneur Nic Carter, who wrote, “One of the dumbest fallacies is people thinking their coin is gonna win if only Bitcoin dies.” According to him, if Bitcoin faced a cryptographic failure, it could make people lose trust in all forms of internet money.

Hoffman countered that in the event of a collapse, Ethereum’s ecosystem would continue to operate normally. This is because it operates independently of its counterpart, with no technical dependencies between the two networks. “If Bitcoin stopped producing blocks, quite literally nothing would happen on Ethereum,” he said.

However, the analyst acknowledged that Bitcoin’s death could temporarily undermine confidence in cryptocurrencies, but the functions and value Ethereum provides would remain intact.

He also suggested that the latter could benefit if the former were compromised. He explained that this is due to both digital assets having great monetary value; therefore, removing one would create a clear path for the other to become the native digital money.

Ethereum Shows Stronger Preparedness

Researcher Scott Aaronson believes the quantum threat is very real. Recently, he shared in a blog post that given how quickly hardware is improving, a quantum computer capable of running Shor’s algorithm could exist before the next U.S. presidential election.

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Bitcoin has long been aware that the ECDSA signatures in early wallets are vulnerable to quantum attacks, and that such a computer could eventually compromise private keys. Carter has also suggested that some recent declines in the asset’s price might mean that the market is factoring in these potential threats.

On the other hand, Hoffman pointed out that Ethereum has long been preparing for these kinds of challenges. From its early days, the network has kept public keys hidden behind addresses until they are used, which lowers the chance of a successful attack. After the Merge, it also secured validator withdrawal keys.

The ecosystem’s roadmap further includes plans to change from ECDSA to quantum-resistant signature systems through planned upgrades such as Verkle trees and EOF-layer improvements. The expert concluded by saying that Ethereum’s forward planning puts it in a position to continue operating and potentially grow even if its competitor runs into serious issues.