The concern is simple. Bitcoin relies on cryptography to secure wallets and authorize transfers. Current computers cannot realistically break those protections. But future machines exploiting features of quantum mechanics could make it easier to work backward from public information to the private keys that are used to authorize transactions.

Many bitcoin developers say the threat is not near-term. Some, including longtime developer Jameson Lopp, have argued that quantum risk remains years away and any serious transition would take time.

Likewise, Wood’s shift is not a not signal that quantum computing is an immediate threat to bitcoin. It does show that long-term security questions are beginning to influence how some investors think about allocations.