For Portal, there is a simple key criterion for supporting a new company: does the asset still hold value ten years from now? In this article, we will use our investment in Quip Network as an example to illustrate how we discover opportunities, build conviction, and invest.

This article outlines our investment philosophy regarding quantum encryption and our belief that Quip is the most likely solution to bring the on-chain economy into the post-quantum era, with significant upside potential.

The article mainly covers the following sections:

1. No, it is not too early
2. What is the post-quantum era?
3. Crypto × Quantum: Defensive vs. Offensive Opportunities
4. Why is investing in the quantum field so challenging?
5. What should a "good" solution possess?
6. Quip: Why it is the right solution

1. No, it is not too early

Discussions and hot articles about the risks of quantum technology to Bitcoin have become quite common recently, and rightly so, due to a simple mathematical problem: approximately 3.5 million Bitcoins remain unrecovered, including about 1.1 million belonging to Satoshi Nakamoto. In other words, there is nearly $300 billion in economic interest driving the acceleration of quantum computing research.

In the “Quantum Doom Clock” below, Quip has plotted the growth trend of qubits since 2017 and predicts that the first commercially viable quantum encryption attack will occur between 2027 and 2028.

Quip Network: Quantum Doom Clock

Stepping outside the crypto space, IBM's CEO predicts that there will be “significant breakthroughs” in the quantum field within the next 3-5 years. ChatGPT estimates that the threat of quantum technology to the banking system will become a reality between 2027 and 2032, and various sources are urging financial institutions to migrate to post-quantum encryption systems before 2030.

Progress is accelerating, as evidenced by the increased density of headlines about quantum computing in just the year 2025:

• Microsoft releases Majorana 1 chip — utilizing topological qubit technology to enhance error resistance and system scalability.

• IBM's 4,158 qubit system — this system connects three chips of 1386 qubits, establishing a new milestone in the number of qubits.

• Amazon's Ocelot chip — developed “cat-state qubits” that can reduce quantum computing errors by up to 90%.

• D-Wave's “quantum advantage” — solving a materials science problem in 20 minutes, while a classical supercomputer would take nearly a million years to complete.

• Caltech's quantum network — built a multi-qubit quantum network prototype to advance secure quantum communication.

• Google's Willow chip — this chip features 105 qubits and can exponentially reduce errors, completing tasks that would take a supercomputer 10^80 years to finish.

• Oxford University's distributed quantum computing — connecting two independent processors into one system to facilitate distributed quantum computing.

Some may think that since quantum attacks are expected to occur between 2027 and 2030, the threat is still 2-5 years away. However, the key point is: one cannot build flood defenses after the storm has passed. Both on-chain and off-chain financial infrastructures need to be equipped with quantum attack resistance capabilities before the first commercially viable quantum attack occurs.

Time available for preparation = Time until quantum attack occurs - Time required to implement changes.

Even if the current probability of a quantum computer capable of destroying all your investments is only 5%, the financial risk warrants proactive defense at this moment.

2. What is the post-quantum era?

I have been fascinated by quantum computing since 2021. At that time, I wrote a popular science article — “What’s the Big Deal About Quantum?” — to explore its potential, applications, and venture capital landscape.

Today, significant progress has been made in the field of quantum computing. Therefore, I wrote a follow-up article — “Six Industries That Will Be Completely Transformed by Quantum Computing,” providing specific examples to help clarify how quantum will drive paradigm shifts in various key industries.

Here’s the TL;DR version:

3. Crypto × Quantum: Defensive vs. Offensive Opportunities

Among the industries that quantum computing may impact, some are “defensive,” while others are “offensive.” Let’s define them.

• Defensive opportunities: Arising from “loss aversion” — that is, the concern that quantum computing will threaten the security of on-chain/crypto assets or off-chain/financial assets held in banks.

Examples of such industries include crypto and financial services/banking (in part).

• Offensive opportunities: Stemming from the potential of quantum computing to enhance revenue, expand products/services, and drive innovation.

Industry examples include financial services, economic planning, logistics, and materials science.

Does this mean that the only intersection of crypto technology and quantum computing is security?

The landscape is broader. Certainly, as long as decentralized finance (DeFi) remains the primary application in the crypto space, post-quantum security will become a standard — an uncompromising infrastructure for any protocol. This means that “quantum-resistant security” alone relates to a total addressable market (TAM) of $2.7 trillion in the crypto space.

But the potential goes far beyond that. One of the core values of crypto lies in its ability to quickly launch decentralized networks composed of shared resources — for example, DePIN (Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Network) allows teams and individuals who cannot compete with large tech companies for Nvidia chips to utilize GPUs.

As quantum computers emerge, this trend of resource centralization will only worsen — because quantum computers are extremely scarce and expensive (for instance, IBM's Quantum System One currently costs about $15 million). While the price of quantum computers will gradually decrease, it is certain that, in the short term, most companies will not be able to own their own quantum computers, and personal devices equipped with quantum processors are even further out of reach. However, most businesses also do not need to own a quantum computer — many of their simulations/tasks are “one-off runs.”

Therefore, we propose the concept of “proactive” crypto × quantum: imagine a quantum DePIN network that aggregates excess quantum computing power from major players like IBM, Amazon, Microsoft, IonQ, and Rigetti. Although these companies currently offer on-demand cloud services, a decentralized quantum network could unlock more possibilities:

• A token-incentivized quantum version of Zapier or Hugging Face — crowdsourcing modular tools and workflows for the design and execution of quantum tasks.

• A service network that provides better and faster capabilities than pure classical computing services.

• A more efficient task-sharing mechanism for quantum computing vendors that typically offer rental services to nearby clients by the hour or day.

This is not just a matter of “resource access” — it concerns coordination, performance, and composability on a global scale.

To summarize, the intersection of crypto and the quantum era presents a “dual opportunity”:

• Defensive opportunities: The security demand of $2.7 trillion worth of on-chain assets against quantum attacks.

• Offensive opportunities: Creating decentralized networks that allow the public to leverage the “productivity” and “revenue growth” potential of quantum computing.

Quip Network covers the entire opportunity space—starting with defensive opportunities and gradually expanding into offensive opportunities. Its goal is to bring the on-chain economy into the post-quantum era, initially providing the most native and seamless post-quantum protection for protocols, custodians, and wallets, and gradually evolving into a decentralized quantum computing network—you can call it a quantum DePIN.

4. Why is investing in the quantum field so challenging?

Before diving deeper, I want to share our journey in finding Quip. Quantum computing is, so far, the field where we have spent the most time building our investment thesis and finding the right team and investment approach.

Many friends and family of Portal know that since June 2024, we have been seeking opportunities to bet on the “quantum investment thesis.” We scoured major conferences on the internet (I recommend this website, which I found to be the most comprehensive aggregator) and even flew across continents to attend some events.

Finding startups in quantum encryption is challenging because:

• Most quantum computing conferences have almost no intersection with the crypto space;

• At the few “quantum x cryptography” conferences—such as Oxford PQCrypto—most participants and speakers are pure academic researchers with no interest in entrepreneurship or crypto. In fact, there is still prejudice in the cryptographer community, viewing crypto as a fraud;

• Among the extremely few cryptographers interested in crypto, the proposed concepts are often technical “features” rather than viable “products.”

A quantum encryption startup cannot be formed overnight: the team must precisely sit at the intersection of the following areas:

(1) Native to crypto

(2) Academic experts in quantum cryptography

(3) Entrepreneurial spirit

Even within a limited talent pool, we found it difficult to build conviction around the 6-7 quantum encryption projects prior to Quip. Most of the previous projects attempted to build a post-quantum L1 chain and expected users to abandon their favorite chains for a brand new one—this seems as absurd as asking users to permanently live in a nuclear shelter.

5. What should a "good" solution possess?

To solve the problem, we first need to understand it. The key obstacles currently hindering the implementation of post-quantum solutions are:

1. Accountability issues

Since both wallets and protocols/chains have quantum attack surfaces, once user funds suffer losses due to quantum attacks, both parties can blame each other. Each party wants a scapegoat to deflect responsibility, saying, “It’s not my problem.”

2. Incentive issues

Why doesn’t Solana (or any L1) do it themselves? Because miners and validators have no incentive to bear the additional computational and storage costs brought by quantum-resistant algorithms. Moreover, 90% of users are unattractive to quantum attackers, but the remaining 10% control 70% of the assets. Protocols/chains have no incentive to force the costs of ensuring the safety of large holders onto smaller ones. Therefore, quantum resistance must be modular and economically viable.

3. Inertia issues

Vitalik mentioned in a blog that hard forks should be a last resort and warned against diluting focus on other core research directions. We have all seen how long it takes to push an EIP. People tend to react passively, but when they must respond, it is often too late.

4. Neutrality issues

Even if a protocol implements post-quantum security, they rarely have the incentive to ensure interoperability with the post-quantum security standards of other chains.

Therefore, the ideal solution to bring Web3 into the post-quantum world should possess the following characteristics:

1. Trusted neutrality & interoperability: Able to integrate with any protocol, chain, or wallet;

2. Accountability: Protocols and wallets can outsource post-quantum security upgrades to a third party—without requiring validators to bear costs or liabilities;

3. Seamless integration: Minimal impact on user experience; the solution should integrate natively with protocols without requiring asset bridges or migrations;

4. Sufficient decentralization: A network with a solid security budget and distributed infrastructure;

5. Beyond Web3: To seize offensive opportunities, collaboration with quantum computing vendors will be a major advantage.

6. QUIP is the ideal solution

Quip Network offers—so far—the most realistic implementation solution for all stakeholders—retail, institutional, protocols, wallets, and more.

Its core technology is the Quantum Unit Interlock Pathway (QUIP), which can attach a post-quantum public key as a secure signature to future transfer operations. It can be natively integrated with any protocol or wallet to upgrade the security of user assets without affecting user experience (no need to bridge or migrate on-chain assets, no need to change public/private keys), and it will not dilute the protocol's TVL.

In the future—offensive opportunities—lie in QUIP evolving into a quantum DePIN network, providing a platform similar to a quantum “app store” that aggregates common applications and integrates with various quantum computing service providers to support scenarios such as:

• Shortest vector search: Applicable in diverse fields such as logistics and financial arbitrage;

• AI learning, hash acceleration: Applicable for more efficient Bitcoin mining and data indexing;

• True random number generation: Used for various types of Monte Carlo simulations.

More importantly, the QUIP team excites us immensely: Colton—a cryptography expert, YC graduate entrepreneur, who has served as CMO, CEO, and COO in several companies valued at nine to ten figures; Dr. Carback—a seasoned cryptographer and serial entrepreneur with deep expertise in privacy protection and quantum-resistant systems; and their advisor, Dr. David Chaum—widely regarded as the “father of cryptocurrency.”

We are often asked: after investing, what is the earliest signal to judge whether a project can succeed? The answer is undoubtedly: execution speed and iteration speed. In just a few months, Quip has already achieved:

• Non-native launch on 10+ top public chains (native integration is in progress)

• Negotiating with several leading L1s to secure support for native integration ecosystem funds

• Testnet is live: vault.quip.network

• Waitlist has surpassed 2000+ users, with committed TVL reaching eight figures

• Currently conducting POC tests with custodians managing eleven-figure crypto assets

• Actively negotiating partnerships with several top Web2 quantum computing companies

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