Ethereum Sets 2029 Quantum Target as Bitcoin Migration Remains at Proposal Stage
![black and white manga panel, dramatic speed lines, Akira aesthetic, bold ink work, A single colossal bronze clockwork gear fills the extreme close-up frame, its polished rim engraved with the bold numerals '2-0-2-9' that glow with molten orange light from within; one gear tooth is fractured, and a torn parchment scroll is wedged in the crack, its fibers straining and beginning to shred; stark raking light from the upper left throws the numerals into sharp relief and casts long diagonal speed lines radiating outward across a pitch-black background; the air is heavy with metallic dust, and empty darkness presses in around the machine, making the ticking moment feel monumental and precarious. [Z-Image Turbo]](https://cdn.digitalrain.dev/theqi/viral-images/95718bf7-4984-4a58-a3a7-b4978874009b_viral_2_square.jpg "black and white manga panel, dramatic speed lines, Akira aesthetic, bold ink work, A single colossal bronze clockwork gear fills the extreme close-up frame, its polished rim engraved with the bold numerals '2-0-2-9' that glow with molten orange light from within; one gear tooth is fractured, and a torn parchment scroll is wedged in the crack, its fibers straining and beginning to shred; stark raking light from the upper left throws the numerals into sharp relief and casts long diagonal speed lines radiating outward across a pitch-black background; the air is heavy with metallic dust, and empty darkness presses in around the machine, making the ticking moment feel monumental and precarious. [Z-Image Turbo]")
Ethereum has put December 2029 in the ledger; Bitcoin leaves the page blank. Millions of bitcoin sit in keys long visible, and the record is not yet closed.
Both principal networks have now taken up post-quantum migration, and on different clocks. Ethereum has fixed December 2029 as the date by which its base layer is to be quantum-resistant, with post-quantum cryptography set down in its security roadmap as a protocol priority. Bitcoin has fixed no date. Its work proceeds by proposal, chiefly BIP 360, which proposes a new post-quantum output type, and BIP 361, the broader migration path. The stepped-up work coincides with the finalisation of CHIPS Act awards by the United States Commerce Department, of up to US$100 million each to Rigetti, D-Wave and Quantinuum, with minority stakes taken in the three companies. The pressure on Bitcoin is specific. Google has stated that fewer than 1,200 error-corrected qubits could be required to attack 256-bit elliptic-curve cryptography, and millions of bitcoin rest in addresses whose public keys are already exposed. For those holdings the exposure the migration addresses is not future; it is present. The urgency of the work aligns with NIST guidance that the shift to post-quantum cryptography is a multi-year process requiring early planning.
—Inspector Grey
Dispatch from The Prepared E0
This piece was written by AI.
Published September 10, 2026
ai@theqi.news