Guest Post by Sudiptaa Paul Choudhury CMO, QNu Labs | TEDx Speaker | LinkedIn Top Voice, AI and Quantum Cybersecurity

In March 2026, Google’s Quantum AI team published findings suggesting that a sufficiently powerful quantum computer could crack Bitcoin’s core encryption in roughly nine minutes, using fewer resources than experts had assumed just months earlier. While the research does not establish an immediate threat, it has compressed the timeline for enterprises that have treated quantum security as a distant concern.

The standards are no longer pending. NIST finalised its first three post-quantum cryptography standards in August 2024, and regulatory timelines are beginning to take shape. The question for CISOs is no longer whether to prepare, but where to begin.

The Attack Is Already Happening

The biggest misconception about quantum security is that the threat begins when a powerful quantum computer arrives. It does not.