Adam Back Slams Bitcoiner VC Over ‘Uniformed’ Quantum Risk

Blockstream CEO Adam Back has criticized Castle Island Ventures founding partner Nic Carter for amplifying concerns about quantum computing threats to Bitcoin.

“You make uninformed noise and try to move the market or something. You’re not helping,” Back said in an X post on Friday, after Carter explained in an X post why Castle Island Ventures invested in Project Eleven, a startup focused on protecting Bitcoin and other crypto assets from the threat of quantum computing.

Back said the Bitcoin community is not in denial about the need to research and develop protections against potential quantum computing threats, but is instead doing that work “quietly.” However, Carter refuted Back’s comment, arguing that many Bitcoin developers are still in “total denial” about the risk of quantum computing to Bitcoin.

While Castle Island Ventures’ investment only recently resurfaced on social media within the Bitcoin community, Carter first disclosed it in a Substack post on Oct. 20. “I disclosed this in the first sentence of my main article on quantum. Can’t get more transparent than that,” Carter said.

Carter says he was “quantum pilled”

Carter said that he invested in the project because Project Eleven CEO Alex Pruden “quantum pilled” him. “I became extremely concerned about quantum threats to blockchains. I put capital behind my convictions, always have,” he said.

“I knew the bad faith criticisms would come, so I made absolutely sure to be crystal clear about my financial exposure here,” Carter added.

Carter raised several points why quantum computing poses a risk to Bitcoin, including governments planning for a post-quantum world, Bitcoin itself being “a bug bounty” for quantum supremacy, and the increasing amount of investment in quantum firms.

Carter isn’t the only prominent Bitcoin figure to have recently stepped up public warnings about the potential quantum computing threat to Bitcoin.

Some warn the threat could emerge in as little as two years

Capriole Investments founder Charles Edwards warned in a post on X on Thursday that quantum computing could pose a genuine threat to Bitcoin within the next two to nine years unless the network upgrades to quantum-resistant cryptography.

However, others are less concerned.

Related: Anxiety of quantum risk to Bitcoin is weighing on its price: Execs

Multimillionaire entrepreneur Kevin O’Leary recently told Cointelegraph Magazine that using quantum computing to break Bitcoin’s security wouldn’t be the most effective use of the technology, arguing it would be far more valuable in areas like AI-driven medical research.

Meanwhile, Back recently said it is good for Bitcoin to be “quantum ready,” but it won’t be a threat for the next few decades, as the technology is still “ridiculously early,” and has research and development issues.

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