Key facts
- BitGo CEO Mike Belshe stated AI will not break Bitcoin's cryptography.
- Belshe agreed with the need to protect crypto wallets now for post-quantum risks.
- BitGo offers a Quantum Resistance Score to show wallet protection against quantum threats.
- Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin warned AI-accelerated math could weaken lattice-based cryptography in two years.
- Europol advised the crypto industry to prepare for quantum computing threats.
BitGo CEO Mike Belshe has dismissed concerns that artificial intelligence poses an immediate threat to Bitcoin's cryptographic security. However, he concurred with the growing sentiment that proactive measures are necessary to safeguard crypto wallets against future post-quantum computing risks.
Belshe's remarks on October 8 came in response to Bitcoin security researcher Justin Drake's call for a transition to "bunker mode" and the migration of crypto assets to new addresses. While Belshe agreed with Drake's conclusion on the importance of immediate wallet protection, he contested the assertion that AI is on the verge of cracking Bitcoin's encryption.
BitGo has introduced a Quantum Resistance Score, a feature designed to indicate the percentage of a crypto wallet's protection and the exposure level of Bitcoin wallet addresses to quantum threats. The company also offers a one-click solution to move funds to secure addresses and has updated its UTXO selection algorithm to prioritize quantum resistance over transaction fees.
Standard Bitcoin addresses, such as legacy (P2PKH) and modern SegWit formats, rely on cryptographic hashing rather than exposing raw public keys on the ledger, a key point Belshe highlighted. Recent reports indicated BitGo's institutional client base grew to 5,833 in Q2 2026, with normalized assets rising to $65.2 billion, as banks leverage BitGo's Crypto-as-a-Service models.
Earlier this year, Belshe publicly challenged AI firm Anthropic to hack a wallet containing 100 BTC, sharing the address to underscore his skepticism about AI's current capabilities against Bitcoin. His latest comments distinguish between the urgency of key management and the more extreme claim that AI is imminently threatening Bitcoin's signature security.
Meanwhile, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has warned that AI-accelerated mathematical advancements could compromise lattice-based cryptography within two years. He noted that not only quantum-vulnerable schemes like ECDSA but also lattice-based cryptography such as ML-DSA and FHE are at risk. Buterin suggested that Ethereum's focus on a "hash-only" direction offers greater resistance to AI-accelerated attacks and advised users to adopt off-chain multisig confirmations and fresh addresses to mitigate AI-related risks.
Europol has also urged the crypto industry to begin preparing for quantum computing threats, identifying crypto wallets as the primary point of vulnerability to such attacks.