Kevin O’Leary, Canadian businessman and Shark Tank investor, said that concerns over quantum computing are preventing institutions from increasing Bitcoin (BTC) allocations.
This latest statement comes as experts continue to raise alarms that the impact of quantum computing risks may already be starting to show, though not in the way many expected.
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Quantum Risk Keeps Institutions From Expanding Bitcoin Exposure, O’Leary Warns
O’Leary described quantum computing as a “new concern floating around now.” According to him, the theoretical risk that a powerful quantum system could eventually compromise blockchain cryptography is enough to keep large investors cautious.
While he did not suggest the threat is imminent, O’Leary indicated that the possibility is influencing capital allocation decisions today. In his view, until the industry provides a clear and credible solution to address quantum vulnerabilities, institutional exposure to Bitcoin is unlikely to move meaningfully beyond the 3% range.
“Until that gets resolved, don’t expect them to go beyond a 3% allocation. They’ll stay cautious, they’ll stay disciplined, and they’ll wait for clarity. That’s the reality,” he said.
His comments suggest that institutions now view quantum risk as significant enough to justify defensive positioning. Meanwhile, some appear to be taking the potential risk even more seriously.
Christopher Wood, global head of equity strategy at Jefferies, removed a 10% allocation to Bitcoin from his model portfolio, citing concerns about quantum computing.
Wood argued that progress in the field would weaken the case for Bitcoin as a reliable store of value, particularly for pension-style long-duration investors. This comes as some analysts argue that growing fears around quantum computing are beginning to influence Bitcoin’s valuation.
Willy Woo recently suggested that quantum concerns may have contributed to Bitcoin breaking its 12-year outperformance trend against gold. Charles Edwards, founder of Capriole Investments, echoed a similar view.
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He argued that interest in quantum computing intensified around the time Bitcoin reached its peak, prompting investors to reduce risk exposure, which in turn contributed to the subsequent price decline.
Developers Advance BIP 360 for Future Bitcoin Consideration
Amid mounting concerns, Bitcoin developers cleared a procedural milestone last week by merging Bitcoin Improvement Proposal 360 (BIP 360) into the official BIP GitHub repository.
This means the proposal is now formally listed and can be considered for future Bitcoin updates, though it has not been approved or scheduled for implementation.
BIP-360 proposes a new output type called Pay-to-Merkle-Root (P2MR) that reduces long exposure of public keys by removing Taproot’s key-path spend.
“Pay-to-Merkle-Root (P2MR) is a proposed new output type that commits to the root of a script tree. It operates with nearly the same functionality as P2TR (Pay-to-Taproot) outputs, but with the quantum vulnerable key path spend removed,” the proposal reads.
Traditional formats like P2PK directly expose public keys, and P2TR commits to a public key and can reveal it via key-path spends, creating a potential vulnerability to future quantum attacks. P2MR’s script-only design keeps public keys off-chain until the script must be revealed at spend time, thereby reducing that exposure.