Quantum computing technology is drawing nearer than we know. Governments are now investing billions of dollars into it. But alongside those opportunities comes one of the biggest cybersecurity threats the financial world has ever faced.

That threat is known as Q-Day. This is the day quantum computers become powerful enough to break the encryption that protects banks, governments, among others.

David Holtzman, Executive Chairman of Naoris Protocol, shared more insights on this in an interview.  Holtzman is a former IBM chief scientist, former NSA codebreaker, and one of the architects of the internet’s Domain Name System (DNS). Having worked through some of the biggest technology shifts of the past three decades, he believes the world has far less time to prepare than many people realize.

Quantum Computing Is Entering a New Phase

One of the biggest signs of progress is the support from governments. The United States has made quantum computing a national priority. President Trump recently signed two executive orders. One requires government agencies to adopt post-quantum cryptography by 2031, and another focuses on deploying quantum sensors for military use by 2028.

The Department of Commerce has also committed $2 billion through the CHIPS Act to support nine quantum computing companies. The government is now taking equity stakes instead of simply supporting research, unlike previous funding programs.

For Holtzman, that is a major turning point. Quantum computing is becoming a commercial industry, and governments want to have a say in it.

He compares today’s quantum race to the early days of the internet. During the 1990s, Holtzman helped manage the internet’s DNS system as it morphed from a research network into a commercial platform. 

Domain registrations grew from just a few hundred thousand to more than 10 million in only four years, as businesses found practical uses for the internet. He shared that the same is playing out today.

“When a technology reaches a point where there is an application for the private sector, the curve goes exponential,” he said.

The Difference Between Quantum Utility and Q-Day

Holtzman said that many people confuse these two concepts. 

The first is commercial utility, when quantum computers become useful for solving practical problems. This includes drug discovery and scientific research. He added that this could happen within the next 18 months.

The second is Q-Day. That’s when quantum computers become powerful enough to break RSA encryption. This encryption protects everything from online banking and government communications to financial transactions.

Holtzman estimates that the milestone is still three to four years away.

Why Q-Day Matters

Traditional computers process information using ones and zeroes. Quantum computers work differently. They use qubits, which can exist in multiple states concurrently. That allows them to solve certain mathematical problems faster than today’s computers.

“Right now, the largest quantum computer — I believe it’s IBM — is around 1,200 qubits,” he said. “To be very threatening, they used to believe a million qubits would be the minimum. Some researchers now believe half a million would do it, and that number may go down again.”

Although that gap is still clear, Holtzman said the pace of development should not be underestimated. If Q-Day arrives before organizations are prepared, the consequences could be enormous.

Military communications, diplomatic messages, SWIFT payment systems, interbank transfers, Bitcoin, and many other blockchain networks all rely on encryption that quantum computers could eventually defeat. As Holtzman put it plainly, “all digital secrets go away.”

The Threat Has Already Begun

One of the biggest surprises from my conversation with Holtzman was that Q-Day is not where the danger starts. In many ways, he noted that it has already started.

Instead of trying to break encrypted information today, he argued that governments and cybercriminals are already collecting and storing it. The goal is to wait until quantum computers become powerful enough to unlock that data in the future.

Holtzman said this has been happening for years. He pointed to documents released by Edward Snowden, which showed that the U.S. has been collecting encrypted communications for future use. 

Many companies still assume they have until Q-Day to start preparing. He disagrees. By the time quantum computers are capable of breaking today’s encryption, sensitive information may already have been stolen. “The breach, in many cases, has already happened,” he alluded.

A New Divide in Global Finance

Quantum computing is set to change the global financial system. Countries investing in quantum technology are likely to move ahead, while those that delay risk falling behind.

The United States has committed $2 billion to quantum computing, while Japan has pledged $7.4 billion. Many other countries, however, are still treating quantum security as a distant issue.

Holtzman added that it could split the financial world into two groups.

Countries and institutions with quantum-safe systems will continue to exchange money and sensitive information with confidence. Those who fail to upgrade could struggle to earn that same level of trust.

He described this as the rise of a two-tier global financial system, one divided not by geography or economic strength, but by quantum readiness. He also said this could increase the world’s dependence on the U.S. dollar. Many smaller economies already rely on the dollar because of instability in their own currencies.

A Future Worth Preparing For

Despite the risks surrounding Q-Day, Holtzman remains optimistic about quantum computing itself. He believes the industry has already overcome its biggest scientific challenges. The next phase is largely an engineering problem, which is making quantum computers faster, smaller, cheaper, and easier to scale.

Holtzman also said investors will eventually pay attention to which companies are ready for the quantum era.

“If you have five major companies in a sector and three of them mitigate the quantum problem while two don’t, the two that don’t are sitting ducks. Investors will know, and I would expect that to be reflected in the stock price.”

Benzinga Disclaimer: This article is from an unpaid external contributor. It does not represent Benzinga’s reporting and has not been edited for content or accuracy.