Cryptography

Bitcoin, Ethereum, and the Quantum Computing Question

Bitcoin, Ethereum, and the Quantum Computing Question

Quantum computers are a long-term threat to the signatures that protect Bitcoin and Ethereum. The public research checked on October 16, 2026 (KST), however, estimates resources for future error-corrected machines; it does not demonstrate recovery of a real secp256k1 private key on quantum hardware. Risk depends on how long a public key is exposed, how long an attack takes, and whether authentication and authority can migrate first. Bitcoin’s defenses remain proposals, while Ethereum is working on a transition across accounts, consensus, and data. Resource-estimation paper, BIP-360, Ethereum Foundation transition plan

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Pulling Encryption Keys Out of Passkeys with the WebAuthn PRF Extension

Pulling Encryption Keys Out of Passkeys with the WebAuthn PRF Extension

Passkeys show up on login screens everywhere now. What’s less well known is that the same authenticator holding your passkey can also hand out key material for encryption, not just authentication. The prf extension in WebAuthn is that path. This post covers what PRF actually returns, how it relates to the CTAP2 hmac-secret extension, what you still have to build yourself before it’s usable for real encryption, and where device and platform support stand as of 2026.

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