Quantum computing analysis agency Venture Eleven has launched a contest to see simply how a lot of a risk quantum computing at the moment poses to Bitcoin.
Launching the competitors on April 16, Venture Eleven said it’s providing 1 Bitcoin (BTC) to whoever cracks the largest chunk of a Bitcoin key utilizing a quantum laptop throughout the subsequent yr.
Venture Eleven stated the aim of the “Q-Day Prize” is to check “how pressing the risk” of quantum is to Bitcoin and to seek out quantum-proof options to safe Bitcoin over the long run.
“10 million+ addresses have uncovered public keys. Quantum computing is steadily progressing. No person has rigorously benchmarked this risk but,” Venture Eleven wrote on X on April 16.
Greater than 6 million Bitcoin — price round $500 billion — could be at risk if quantum computer systems grow to be highly effective sufficient to crack elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) keys, Venture Eleven stated.
Members can register as people or as a staff and have till April 5, 2026, to finish the duty. The prize winner will win 1 Bitcoin, at the moment price $84,100.
The purpose is to run Shor’s algorithm on a quantum computer to crack as many bits of a Bitcoin key as doable, appearing as a proof-of-concept that the method may scale to crack a full, 256-bit Bitcoin key as soon as the mandatory compute is obtainable.
“The mission: break the biggest ECC key doable utilizing Shor’s algorithm on a quantum laptop. No classical shortcuts. No hybrid methods. Pure quantum energy,” Venture Eleven stated.
“You needn’t break a Bitcoin key. A 3-bit key can be massive information,” it added.
No ECC key utilized in real-world purposes has ever been cracked, famous Venture Eleven, including that the winner may “go down in cryptography historical past.”
Venture Eleven famous that a number of on-line platforms supply quantum computing entry, akin to Amazon Internet Companies and IBM.
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Present estimates counsel that round 2,000 logical qubits (error-corrected) can be sufficient to interrupt a 256-bit ECC key, Venture Eleven famous.
IBM’s Heron chip and Google’s Willow can at the moment do 156 and 105 qubits — significant enough to cause concern, in response to Venture Eleven, which believes a 2,000-qubit quantum system could possibly be developed throughout the subsequent decade.
Quantum risk to Bitcoin is actual however there’s time, Bitcoiners say
Bitcoin cypherpunk Jameson Lopp just lately said the query of how involved the trade needs to be about quantum computing is at the moment “unanswerable.”
“I believe it is from a disaster, however given the issue in altering Bitcoin it is price beginning to severely talk about,” Lopp stated in a March 16 publish.
In February, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said the priority is well-founded but is confident that quantum-proof Bitcoin addresses shall be applied nicely earlier than any “severe risk” emerges.
Journal: Bitcoin vs. the quantum computer threat: Timeline and solutions (2025–2035)
