Bitcoin faces a double blow this week. Glassnode estimates roughly 6.04 million BTC — nearly 30% of the total supply — could be vulnerable to future quantum computing attacks because their public keys have been exposed on-chain. At the same time, spot trading volumes have collapsed 81% since October 2025, slipping back to levels last seen during the July 2023 bear market.
6 million BTC with exposed keys
Of the vulnerable Bitcoin, about 4.12 million is tied to address reuse and outdated custody methods that increase public-key exposure. Centralized exchanges collectively hold more than 1.6 million BTC in addresses that are potentially exposed. The finding from Glassnode underscores a long-known risk: once a public key is broadcast on the network, a sufficiently powerful quantum computer could theoretically derive the private key and spend the funds.
The threat isn't imminent — quantum machines capable of breaking Bitcoin's elliptic-curve cryptography are likely years away. But the sheer size of the exposed supply means the industry has a massive migration problem to solve before that day arrives.
Volume freefall since October
Bitcoin spot trading volumes have plunged about 81% from October 2025 peaks. Binance, the largest exchange, recorded $198.6 billion in trading volume that month; current volumes are roughly five times lower. Gate.io has seen a 79.6% drop, and Bybit is down 66%. The decline mirrors a broader macro shift — rising inflationary pressures and prolonged US-Iran tensions have pushed investors toward traditional assets, sapping crypto risk appetite.
What the slide means
Not everyone reads the volume collapse as purely bearish. Analyst Darkfost interprets the sharp drop in trading activity as selling pressure losing momentum. In the past, such patterns have coincided with later stages of market corrections. The timing isn't great — the quantum exposure report adds a layer of structural worry for long-term holders. But if history holds, the exhaustion of sellers could lay the groundwork for a stabilization.
Whether that stabilization arrives before the quantum clock ticks louder remains an open question. No migration standard for moving BTC out of exposed addresses has been broadly adopted yet.
