Quantum apocalypse threat is ‘NOT IMMINENT’ for Bitcoin, podcast host says

Added: 2026-05-25

[00:00:00]Warnings over the threat of a quantum apocalypse are growing. Wired is writing that Q-Day is coming when quantum computers will finally crack encryption and break into the world's best-kept secrets. I want to bring back Caitlin Long, Randy Hippert, and and Natalie Brunell. You know, Natalie, I'll start with you because it does seem like as the uh you know, the talk went on or you know, the fear has grown, something's happened with Bitcoin you know, and a lot of these other cryptos.

[00:00:28]Now, they're starting to recover a little bit, but they were it felt like they were down and there was an invisible hand holding them down. Could the market see something that maybe that that maybe quick quantum will be a problem? Well, perhaps people who don't fully understand Bitcoin and the work that's already being done in the industry are using that to price Bitcoin, but the threat is really not imminent. The hardware right now does not even exist to be able to crack Bitcoin, and it's several years away.

[00:00:55]So, the industry is really working hard to prepare because Bitcoin can upgrade through consensus. It's software. And so, I think that we're going to solve this problem as an industry, especially with all of these stakeholders both on the retail level as well as institutional and sovereigns that have gotten into Bitcoin. Well, here's the thing, right? We talk about software, Caitlin. Software stocks, the biggest companies that have ever existed, Microsoft is getting hammered, ServiceNow getting hammered, salesforce.com getting hammered.

[00:01:23]Software has been annihilated, and not just software, other industries because of potential AI threat. So, when do we start this push for consensus because I think if you're too confident, you're going to be caught flat-footed.

[00:01:35]Well, that's certainly true for software, for AI, in part because the services business is going to be disrupted. But I too am not worried about the quantum risk. We typically can see that coming. The cryptographers will tell you, for example, that when SHA-1 was broken by Chinese cryptographers in 2005, theoretically, it took 11 years for Google to actually brute force break Shaw-1. So, you typically have the opportunity to see this years in advance and upgrade it as the internet did at the time. Most regular folks didn't even know that happened. Randy, are you not afraid? No, I think the talk of the tech exists more than the tech itself. And this is just like the old argument of Bitcoin's bad for the environment, Bitcoin's bad for criminals. But you see every time a Bitcoin argument gets debunked, they come up with a different one. So, this is just the next layer.

[00:02:24]It's fear-mongering. All right. So, Natalie, what what are you worried about? Is there something that you're anxious about? Is there something about the way cryptos acted recently or is it just par for the course? It's another crypto winter. It's another Bitcoin bear market. I've seen drawdowns far worse than we've seen. That's not to say that Bitcoin's bottom is absolutely in because we're only about halfway through if you compare and layer Bitcoin's bear markets from previous cycles on top of each other. There's a great chart put out by Pierre Rochard that shows that we might have more pain ahead. But the thing that honestly worries me is just the state of affordability in our country, the lack of hope in the American dream, people moving towards socialist policies because the fiat system has really broken the link between work, savings, and ownership.

[00:03:08]And I think Bitcoin restores it. We just got to teach people about it. Randy, you've been teaching people about this for a long time. If it's the only group in the last year that has less Bitcoin are millennials.

[00:03:19]And and older folks are buying into so, what's going on with younger people? Are they are they attracted to other things like maybe the predictions market, stuff like that? I think Gen Z in particular is very bullish on Bitcoin and crypto. I think millennials are kind of more conservative than Gen Z. They're a little more like tedious. But I do believe that overall like people are going to come into crypto because it's the only way out. Even how she mentioned the American dream, people that are my age don't want to have kids. They don't even know how they're going to have a house one day because they're working three different jobs just to afford a basic lifestyle. Even a gym membership is intimidating to people in my generation. But as we're seeing Bitcoin is the best performing asset of all time. And that's not going to stop because the world needs Bitcoin. Bitcoin doesn't need the world. It's a standalone technology that saves us all in truth. Caitlin, are you concerned about anything?

[00:04:11]No, not really. I I am watching the big Wall Street firms coming in playing Wall Street games with paper Bitcoin.

[00:04:19]>> That's sort of a a blessing and a curse, right?

[00:04:22]>> both. Exactly, as you said. It It brings near-term liquidity, for sure, and it helps increase the price. But we've seen this in Bitcoin before. It just wasn't the Wall Street firms playing games. We saw it in each of the previous bear markets where, as Warren Buffett likes to say, when the when the tide goes out, you see who's swimming naked. And it turns out there were some firms swimming naked. So then, Caitlin, where do we go from here? In other words, you know, again, the the old pros, and then we're talking about a young a young asset, but the old pros who've been through a few of these ups and downs, it's par for the course.

[00:04:55]Uh newbies may be intimidated. If If you're worried about a gym membership, you may be afraid of buying something that went from 100,000 to 70,000. But Let's talk now about the next move to the upside. How much do you think how big do you think this next move could be? I think it's very significant because we've seen a big reduction in selling from the long-term share the long-term holders of Bitcoin. And the rest of the crypto market tends to follow Bitcoin. So, as the whales, so to speak, the long-term, you know, original holders of Bitcoin have stopped selling because it hit their price target.

[00:05:29]You've seen that rotation occur. And once that selling stops, that's when when they the the demand actually picks back up relative to the supply. Randy, what's what's your what's your next upside target for the next leg up? Ultimately, we're looking out to a million-dollar Bitcoin. It's absolutely inevitable. Of course, 100k is going to come back and that's a major psychological level. I think once we pass this 200-day SMA that we're currently at and the momentum continues to pick up whether we test or reject it. I think if we pass this 200-day SMA, we could go right to 93, 94. If we hold support there, I'm looking at that 101k target.

[00:06:03]>> And that only million still in radar?

[00:06:06]>> Eventually, yeah. In the near term, I'm a little bit more cautiously optimistic.

[00:06:09]I do think we might not have seen the bottom, but I think that's a huge stacking opportunity, right? So, I wouldn't mind seeing cheaper Bitcoin.

[00:06:16]>> Let's stack them. All right, guys.