Can AI Beat Quantum? Anthropic's Encryption Discovery Raises Questions for Bitcoin

Bitcoin’s race to become quantum-resistant may face an unexpected challenge after Anthropic.

One of its frontier AI models has discovered novel attacks against weakened cryptographic algorithms.

There are now new discussions regarding whether or not artificial intelligence could actually threaten post-quantum encryption before quantum computers crack today’s Bitcoin signatures.

Coin Center Executive Director Peter Van Valkenburgh joked about the “funniest timeline,” in which Bitcoin upgrades to a lattice-based post-quantum signature scheme only for advanced large language models to break the underlying mathematics before quantum computers ever manage to pose a threat.

Advancing cryptographic research

Claude Mythos Preview model has reportedly discovered previously unknown attacks against weakened versions of the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), one of the world’s most widely used encryption systems.

According to the company, the AI-generated attack made breaking the weakened algorithm between 200 and 1,000 times faster.

Researchers say they demonstrate that frontier AI models are becoming capable of producing original cryptographic research.

Anthropic also reported that Mythos devised an improved attack against HAWK, a post-quantum cryptographic signature scheme.

Why it matters for Bitcoin

Bitcoin currently relies on ECDSA to authorize transactions. Cryptographers have long warned that sufficiently powerful quantum computers could eventually break ECDSA.

Bitcoin developers have begun working on migrating to post-quantum signature schemes, with lattice-based cryptography emerging as one of the leading candidates.

No immediate threat

Despite the attention surrounding Anthropic’s findings, researchers stressed that neither Bitcoin nor today’s internet encryption is in immediate danger.

The attacks targeted deliberately weakened cryptographic systems used for research rather than production-grade implementations. Anthropic said modern AES remains secure.

Still, if AI systems continue accelerating mathematical discovery, developers of Bitcoin and other blockchain networks may eventually need to evaluate post-quantum security against both quantum and AI cryptanalysis.