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GOOGLE SAYS MAKING BITCOIN IS EASIER THAN THAN TELL THE STORY: Cracking the Bitcoin blockchain with quantum computers may not be as difficult as previously thought, and Taproot’s Bitcoin technology, which enables efficient, private transactions, may be partly to blame, Google’s Quantum AI team said in a blog post and whitepaper recently published. The team said the computing power needed to crack Bitcoin’s security may be much lower than previously thought, raising new questions about how soon quantum threats could become a reality. Google previously pointed to 2029 as a milestone for quantum applications, saying the migration must come before then, making the paper find that attacks could require significant computing power. Quantum computers use qubits instead of traditional bits and can solve certain problems faster than today’s machines. One of those problems is to break the type of encryption that protects crypto wallets. Google said that it has developed two possible attack methods, each of which requires about 1,200 to 1,450 high-quality qubits. That is a fraction of earlier estimates and suggests that the gap between the latest technology and an effective attack may be smaller than investors think. The research also explains how such an attack might work. Instead of targeting traditional wallets, a quantum attacker can track transactions in real time. When someone sends a bitcoin, a piece of data called a public key is briefly revealed. A fast quantum computer can use that information to calculate the private key and reroute the money. – Sam Reynolds Read more.
OPENAI RAISES RECORD $122 BILLION: Artificial intelligence specialist OpenAI closed $122 billion at a valuation of $852 billion, dwarfing anything raised in the private markets and cementing the company as the most valuable startup in history by a large margin. The funding was backed by Amazon, Nvidia, and SoftBank, with continued participation from Microsoft. SoftBank co-led a16z, DE Shaw Ventures, MGX, TPG, and T. Rowe Price advised accounts. The list of investors reads like a who’s who of global venture capital – BlackRock, Blackstone, Fidelity, Sequoia, Temasek, Coatue, and ARK Invest all participated. For the first time, OpenAI opened up the segment to individual investors through banking channels, raising more than $3 billion from that segment alone. OpenAI said it generates $2 billion in revenue per month, up from $1 billion per quarter by the end of 2024. ChatGPT has more than 900 million weekly active users and more than 50 million subscribers. The company claims 6x the monthly web visits and mobile apps of the next largest AI app, and 4x the total time spent on apps some of the AI is integrated. – Shaurya Malwa Read more.
HOW BITCOIN, ETHEREUM, AND SOLANA SHOULD Q-DAY: As quantum computing moves closer to practical reality, the crypto industry is beginning to face a long-delayed question: what happens if the cryptography that underpins billions of dollars in digital assets becomes unsustainable? The answers, so far, are mixed. Everywhere in many popular ecosystems such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana, the answers differ in the usual way: what to do in terms of social and technical consensus, and members of the community are divided between caution and acceleration. Quantum computing is a very different form of computing that uses the principles of quantum mechanics instead of classical physics. Instead of traditional bits that are either 0 or 1, quantum computers use “qubits,” which can exist in many places at the same time, a property known as superposition, which allows them to process many possibilities at once. Combined with another feature called entanglement, this enables quantum machines to solve certain problems that are more complex than traditional computers, especially tasks such as performing large numbers that support modern encryption. How dangerous is a quantum computer? Consider this: Quantum computers can solve complex problems in seconds, while ‘Supercomputers,’ the most powerful computing machines available today, can take thousands of years for the same problems, according to IBM. That is why the threats to cryptographic networks from quantum computing are concerning. And Google, the developer of Willow, a large quantum computer, has set a deadline of 2029 to transfer its verification services to post-quantum cryptography, citing technological advances. – Margaux Nijkerk Read more.
BASE TEAM RELEASES 2026 ROADMAP: Base, a layer 2 network from Coinbase (COIN), has redoubled its efforts to build what it calls a “global onchain economy,” outlining a 2026 strategy focused on markets, payments and developers. Base is one of the most widely used layer-2 networks in the Ethereum ecosystem, since it was opened for public use in August 2023. It was initially built using Optimism’s OP Stack as part of the wider “Superchain”, although the project has already shown plans to differentiate its infrastructure as it scales. In February, the Coinbase team said that the chain would rely heavily on it, the house code. Layer-2 blockchains are built on top of Ethereum and aim to increase speed and lower costs by processing transactions themselves, while relying on Ethereum for security. The model has become a key part of Ethereum’s scaling strategy, enabling cheaper and faster transactions without moving the work entirely to the network. However, recently, some Ethereum leaders, including co-founder Vitalik Buterin, have shown a shift towards scaling the underlying layer itself, leaving open questions about how network 2 will fit into Ethereum’s ongoing roadmap. For 2026, Base said it will focus on three areas: expanding onchain markets, promoting stablecoin-based payments and expanding its development environment – an activity that comes as onchain business areas and stablecoins see increasing acceptance among institutional players. – Margaux Nijkerk Read more.
In Other Matters
- Bitcoin’s reputation has long been built on boom-and-bust cycles, with dips of up to 90% from all-time highs. This cycle, however, the decline has been close to 50%, a change that analysts say shows the growth of BTC as an asset class. “Bitcoin’s prices pushing almost 50% is a sign of a growing market structure,” AdLunam co-founder and market analyst Jason Fernandes told CoinDesk. “As funding deepens and institutional participation increases, uncertainty naturally presses on both sides and the bottom,” he added, adding that “at that point, the story goes from questioning its authenticity to achieving a fair distribution.” Fernandes’ comments are in response to Fidelity Digital Assets expert Zack Wainwright’s X post Tuesday, where he noted that growth is becoming “very weak,” with a small chance of very few events as bitcoin grows. – Olivier Acuna Read more.
- In Jack Dorsey’s world view, the job most at risk of AI revolution is the middle manager. Dorsey argues in a new essay, “From Hierarchy to Intelligence,” published with Roelof Botha, managing partner of Sequoia Capital, Block’s investor, that his company’s decision to cut nearly 4,000 of its more than 10,000 employees was not a cost-cutting exercise but a permanent arrangement for AI to replace the middle manager. The essay argues, however, that it has always been about solving one problem: moving information through organizations too large for a single person to manage. Managers mobilize from the bottom up, act as ambassadors from the top, and maintain organization across teams. AI can now perform those tasks continuously and at scale, the authors argue, rendering the messenger useless. Instead of layers of management, Dorsey and Botha propose two “world models” driven by AI. One collects data inside the code, decisions, workflows, and performance metrics to create an improved picture of the company’s performance, replacing the positions that managers used to make. Other maps of consumer and merchant behavior use transaction data from Cash App and Square. – Sam Reynolds Read more.
Management and Policy
- Australia has passed legislation to create its first comprehensive regulatory framework for digital assets that requires crypto exchanges and issuers to obtain financial services licenses. The Corporations Amendment (Digital Assets Framework) Bill 2025 passed in both houses on 1 April, bringing firms holding digital assets on behalf of consumers into the existing Australian Financial Services Licensing system. The Australian Bill creates two new categories regulated under the Corporations Act: digital asset platforms, which hold crypto for the benefit of users, and tokenized custody platforms, which hold real-world assets and issue corresponding digital tokens. Second-party operators must obtain an Australian Financial Services License from ASIC, which brings them under the same basic rules as brokers or fund managers, including requirements to protect customer assets, provide standard disclosures, avoid misleading conduct, and maintain dispute resolution and redress systems. Instead of regulating the crypto itself, the law focuses on the central companies that manage the funds of customers, with the aim of reducing the risks such as comming, insolvency, and misuse of assets that have caused losses in the past of crypto failures. – Sam Reynolds Read more.
- Hong Kong has missed its March deadline for issuing an HKD stablecoin license, while the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) is yet to accept any issuers despite public signs that the announcement would begin last month. At Consensus Hong Kong in February, Finance Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said licenses will begin to be issued in March as part of the city’s efforts to position itself as a regulated center for stablecoins and tokenized currencies. The lack of approvals so far pushes that deadline to April and raises questions about how quickly the plan will move from policy to implementation. “When we issue our licenses, we make sure that licensees have new use cases, a reliable and sustainable business model and strong compliance capabilities,” he said at CoinDesk’s Hong Kong conference. Sam Reynolds Read more.
Calendar
- Mar. 30-Apr. 2, 2026: EthCC, Cannes
- Apr.15-16, 2026: Paris Blockchain Week, Paris
- May 5-7, 2026: Consensus, Miami
- 29-Oct.1, 2026: Korean Blockchain Week, Seoul
- October 7-8, 2026: Token2049, Singapore
- Nov. 3-6, 2026: Devcon, Mumbai
- Nov. 15-17, 2026: Solana Breakpoint, London
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