cryptocurrency

Another way technology has affected the UBI debate is through cryptocurrencies (privately issued, all-electronic mediums of exchange).

The Deep and Enduring History of Universal Basic Income The MIT Press Reader 2024

This could include online shopping with your stored payment details, PayPal account or cryptocurrency wallets.

Your passwords have probably been stolen and sold on the dark web Matthew Sparkes 2025

Thieves can steal money from online banking apps or cryptocurrency wallets, then message the victim’s friends and family to scam them into sending emergency funds.

Why is it seemingly impossible to stop phone thieves? Matthew Sparkes 2025

They also write that such a quantum computer could be used to intercept a cryptocurrency transaction and redirect the funds – essentially stealing them – in the brief period of time before it is recorded.

The first quantum computer to break encryption is now shockingly close Karmela Padavic-Callaghan 2026

Some internet browsers already offer encryption impervious to quantum attacks, so-called post-quantum encryption (PQC), and conventional banks may be able to thwart quantum hackers after being attacked, but the very decentralised systems of cryptocurrency will be a lot more vulnerable, says Gogioso.

The first quantum computer to break encryption is now shockingly close Karmela Padavic-Callaghan 2026

The particulars of how this mathematical problem is solved made it a good candidate for encrypting data and led to its widespread adoption for securing lots of internet communication, including bank transactions, and nearly every major cryptocurrency, including bitcoin.

The first quantum computer to break encryption is now shockingly close Karmela Padavic-Callaghan 2026

But even if everything goes according to plan, one industry could remain in trouble: cryptocurrency.

Quantum computers could usher in a crisis worse than Y2K Karmela Padavic-Callaghan 2026

In their study, researchers at Google and the Ethereum Foundation suggested that the first sign Q-Day has happened may be a hacker stealing cryptocurrency such as bitcoin by intercepting a transaction or targeting old and idle wallets.

Quantum computers could usher in a crisis worse than Y2K Karmela Padavic-Callaghan 2026

It is sufficiently embedded in the global economy that if it lost value because it was shown to be unsafe, more people than just cryptocurrency enthusiasts would lose money, says Stefano Gogioso at the University of Oxford.

Quantum computers could usher in a crisis worse than Y2K Karmela Padavic-Callaghan 2026

But cryptocurrency is no longer just a fringe interest.

Quantum computers could usher in a crisis worse than Y2K Karmela Padavic-Callaghan 2026