XRP (XRP) may face far less exposure to future quantum computing threats than Bitcoin (BTC), with just 0.03% of its circulating supply considered vulnerable compared to an estimated 35% of BTC.
XRP Ledger's Quantum Audit
A validator on the XRP Ledger known as Vet conducted a full quantum vulnerability audit of the network this week. The review found roughly 300,000 XRP accounts holding 2.4 billion tokens have never sent a transaction, meaning their public keys remain hidden from the network. Those accounts are quantum-safe by default.
Only two dormant whale accounts — holding a combined 21 million XRP — were identified as exposed. Both transacted at least five years ago and have not rotated their signing keys since.
The XRPL offers a built-in key rotation feature that lets users swap their signing key without moving funds. Mayukha Vadari, a staff software engineer at Ripple, also pointed to the ledger's escrow time-lock mechanism as an added layer of defense. "Time locks aren't hash based either, you just can't get in until that time has passed," Vadari said.
The risk remains for long-dormant accounts whose holders may have lost access or simply stopped paying attention.
Also Read: Only 10% Of New CEX Tokens Survive Their First Year, CoinGecko Data Reveals
Bitcoin's Structural Disadvantage
Bitcoin faces a structurally deeper problem. Unlike the XRPL, Bitcoin's blockchain has no native key rotation. The only defense is to move funds to a fresh address — but that transaction briefly exposes the old public key in the memory pool for roughly 10 minutes.
