- BlackRock expands on quantum threats in updated Bitcoin ETF filing.
- 2025 was declared the “Year of Quantum Science” by the United Nations.
- Experts say Bitcoin faces a five to seven-year quantum threat timeline.
Bitcoin’s armour of cryptographic code has held up for over a decade, but BlackRock’s latest exchange-traded fund amendment hints at a future where it might not.
In an updated filing for its iShares Bitcoin Trust, BlackRock significantly expanded its quantum computing risk disclosures, including the potential for rapid technological advances to undermine Bitcoin’s core security.
While the prospectus previously included references to the risks posed by “breakthroughs in mathematics, algebraic geometry, and quantum computing,” the latest update broadened this section on how these technologies could come to compromise Bitcoin’s cryptographic algorithms.
The change was noted by Bloomberg ETF analysts James Seyffart and Eric Balchunas, who pointed out that the new language is part of a broader risk disclosure overhaul.
“To be clear. These are just basic risk disclosures,” Seyffart wrote on X. “They are going to highlight any potential thing that can go wrong with any product they list or underlying asset that’s being invested in. It’s completely standard.”
The risk section, which runs from pages 16 to 65 of the prospectus, covers everything from quantum threats and regulatory crackdowns to potential forks, volatility, and hardware concentration in China.
It even includes possible impacts from Trump’s Bitcoin stockpile and the energy-intensive nature of Bitcoin mining.
Meanwhile, this is a year of significant momentum for quantum science.
The United Nations has declared 2025 the “International Year of Quantum Science and Technology” — a global push to accelerate research into quantum computing and its real-world applications.
Companies like IBM, Microsoft, and Alibaba are pouring billions into the field, betting that breakthroughs in quantum computing could transform everything from artificial intelligence to cryptography.
Still, experts like Pierre-Luc Dallaire-Demers of the University of Calgary argue that the timeline for a genuine quantum threat to Bitcoin remains at least five to seven years away.
Kyle Baird is DL News’ Weekend Editor. Got a tip? Email at kbaird@dlnews.com.
