The crypto industry has spent years debating whether quantum computing poses an existential threat to blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Now, researchers and builders believe artificial intelligence may be accelerating that timeline, and forcing a broader rethink of how digital security works altogether.

Leaders working on post-quantum cryptography and blockchain security described a rapidly changing landscape in which AI is simultaneously becoming a weapon for attackers, a defensive tool for developers, and an accelerator of quantum computing research.

“The security landscape of the future is going to be different,” said Alex Pruden, CEO of Project Eleven, a company focused on quantum-resistant infrastructure for…