Quantum Worries Have Shark Tank's O'Leary Weighing IBM and Bitcoin

Kevin O’Leary, the “Shark Tank” investor, says his attention has turned to IBM even as quantum computing fears weigh on Bitcoin (BTC). He also believes institutions need clearer regulation before they invest, a situation that has left the cryptocurrency flat.

O’Leary nevertheless says he is keeping his Bitcoin. His interest in IBM hints that some of the quantum trade may shift toward technology shares rather than crypto.

Why Does Washington Still Have Institutions Waiting?

Why is Bitcoin plateauing? Two factors are weighing on it: institutions want regulatory clarity before they invest, and quantum computing has become a growing concern for some investors.

I still own Bitcoin, but I’m paying close attention to both sides of this shift. The quantum…

— Kevin O'Leary aka Mr. Wonderful (@kevinolearytv) October 28, 2026

Regulation remains an unfinished item in Washington. The CLARITY Act, which would lay out federal rules for crypto markets, is still stalled.

Since a September Senate vote came in at 49 to 50, short of the 60 required, the legislation has gone nowhere.

At the same time, Bitcoin is still a long way under the record peak it reached in October 2025.

This is not the first time O’Leary has raised the issue. In September, quantum worries were central to his $1 million condition for Bitcoin.

Is O’Leary Overplaying the Quantum Risk to Bitcoin?

O’Leary is not alone among prominent figures in flagging the danger. TRON founder Justin Sun has lately turned bearish on Bitcoin, citing quantum and artificial intelligence (AI) risks.

Some industry voices think the threat is further off. Casa’s head of security, Jameson Lopp, says a quantum machine capable of breaking Bitcoin is still orders of magnitude away.

The current hardware situation supports such a view. The Willow chip from Google has 105 qubits, and Google’s own estimate puts the number needed to break Bitcoin at under 500,000.

Venture capitalist Tim Draper takes it a step further, saying banks, not Bitcoin, would be the first to fall to quantum computers.

O’Leary has not explained his IBM reasoning in any depth. IBM itself, though, has already put timelines on its quantum work.

Arvind Krishna, IBM’s CEO, said in July that quantum computing should have a measurable impact on IBM’s revenue by 2028 or 2029.

IBM is also working toward a 2029 launch of Starling, described by the company as the first large-scale fault-tolerant quantum computer. These machines are able to fix their own mistakes, an important milestone before Bitcoin’s cryptography would face genuine danger.

The net result is that IBM gives O’Leary a way to benefit from the same quantum advances he regards as a danger to Bitcoin.

IBM’s share price has climbed back over the past month, but it remains below where it stood a year earlier.

While both Bitcoin’s quantum migration and the CLARITY Act remain in limbo, the two concerns O’Leary raised could keep large Bitcoin allocators cautious.