An analysis finds the XRP Ledger (XRPL) has lower structural exposure to quantum-computer threats than bitcoin.

The Crypto Basic, a blockchain media outlet, reported on April 11 that the amount estimated to be exposed to quantum attacks under current conditions is about 0.03 percent of total supply for XRP and about 35 percent of circulating supply for bitcoin.

The comparison comes as concerns grow that quantum computers could threaten existing cryptographic systems. After Google suggested that a sufficiently powerful quantum computer could attack current cryptographic systems with fewer computing resources than previously expected, efforts have continued to re-examine structural vulnerabilities in major blockchains.

The key difference is how public keys are exposed. Because XRPL uses an account-based structure, an account that has only received funds and never sent a transaction does not reveal its public key on-chain. Vet, an XRPL dUNL validator, said a quick check of XRPL found about 300,000 XRP accounts held about 2.4 billion XRP without ever sending funds. The claim is that these accounts keep a baseline level of quantum safety because their public keys are not exposed.

By contrast, there were not many accounts classified as potential vulnerable candidates. Vet said he identified 2 dormant accounts with past transaction histories that revealed their public keys, and explained that the total XRP held by those accounts was 21 million. That equals about 0.03 percent of circulating supply.

The XRP side also presented countermeasures. Vet said those accounts could also reduce risk through a key-rotation feature. He explained that the feature can change an account’s signing key without moving assets to another address, allowing a compromised key to be replaced with a new one while keeping assets in place.

Mayukha Vadari (마유카 바다리), a software engineer at RippleX, Ripple’s development organization, also cited escrow as a defensive mechanism. He said escrow is not simply an encryption method but a structure that locks funds based on time conditions, meaning withdrawals are impossible before a set time passes. He said it does not remove risk from the account itself, but can reduce incentives because an attacker cannot take the funds immediately.

Bitcoin, by contrast, was singled out as having a more difficult structure. Vet pointed to P2PK, an early bitcoin transaction format, as directly exposing public keys in transaction data. He said coins stored in that format include assets that have not moved for years, such as holdings widely known as belonging to Satoshi Nakamoto, meaning public keys have been exposed for long periods. Estimates cited by Google put about 7 million BTC, or about 35 percent of total supply, as theoretically vulnerable.

Bitcoin also lacks a basic key-rotation feature. Users must move assets directly to a new address to protect them, but public keys can be temporarily exposed while the transaction waits in the mempool. The point is that a sufficiently powerful quantum computer could theoretically target this short time window.

Still, the risk is closer to a theoretical possibility than a threat that has materialised. Bitcoin developers are studying upgrade plans to introduce quantum-resistant cryptography. XRPL has also begun some preparations to respond to quantum threats. Researchers said they are testing ML-DSA, a post-quantum digital signature, and have built an experimental environment to verify quantum-resistant cryptographic algorithms.

Ultimately, the comparison focuses less on whether attacks are occurring now and more on how design differences across blockchains split long-term security risks. For XRP, features such as its account structure, key rotation and escrow were cited as defensive tools, while for bitcoin, older transaction formats and its public key exposure structure were identified as burden factors.

Quick XRP acc quantum vulnerability check. ~300,000 accounts on XRP holding 2.4B XRP never transacted, thus public key unknown and quantum safe. while only 2 accounts with larger holdings of 21M XRP are dormant (inactive over 5 years) and have their public key exposed. Dormant…