Quantum computer cracked Bitcoin security

[NotATether]

However, a quantum computer did actually crack bitcoin security, but it was a tiny test key of 15-bit. This number is so insignificant as bitcoin uses 256-bit encryption. So, there’s no need to panic. That effort is like breaking a toy lock in an attempt to break a bank vault.

This milestone is roughly equivalent to Intel upgrading the 8086 to the i386 processor.

We are still a long way away from quantum computers doing anything particularly useful, because if they could, they would be sold as commercial units by now, not living in some laboratory at Google.

[tbct_mt2]

We are still a long way away from quantum computers doing anything particularly useful, because if they could, they would be sold as commercial units by now, not living in some laboratory at Google.

It's still far than be able to use such computers at Google labs for attacking Bitcoin blockchain, and imagine that in the future even it is possible to do such attacks, will Google do attacks from Quantum computers?

I don't think they will do that as the rich, many people in Google have bitcoins as parts of their prosperity, so they will not get any benefit by doing such attacks. Except if they receive such severe demand from government and can not refuse doing such attacks, but that scenario is not too near with us. In the meantime, Bitcoin developers and community are not static so I believe that Bitcoin blockchain will be very well ready with upgrades and become unaffected by Quantum computer threats before such threats turn to be actual attacks.

[John_Ahmet]

However, a quantum computer did actually crack bitcoin security, but it was a tiny test key of 15-bit. This number is so insignificant as bitcoin uses 256-bit encryption. So, there’s no need to panic. That effort is like breaking a toy lock in an attempt to break a bank vault.

This milestone is roughly equivalent to Intel upgrading the 8086 to the i386 processor.

We are still a long way away from quantum computers doing anything particularly useful, because if they could, they would be sold as commercial units by now, not living in some laboratory at Google.

We are still a long way away from quantum computers doing anything particularly useful, because if they could, they would be sold as commercial units by now, not living in some laboratory at Google.

It's still far than be able to use such computers at Google labs for attacking Bitcoin blockchain, and imagine that in the future even it is possible to do such attacks, will Google do attacks from Quantum computers?

I don't think they will do that as the rich, many people in Google have bitcoins as parts of their prosperity, so they will not get any benefit by doing such attacks. Except if they receive such severe demand from government and can not refuse doing such attacks, but that scenario is not too near with us. In the meantime, Bitcoin developers and community are not static so I believe that Bitcoin blockchain will be very well ready with upgrades and become unaffected by Quantum computer threats before such threats turn to be actual attacks.

In the quantum computing race, not only Google but many entrepreneurs are developing products in this field. The most important aspect of this work is that the SECP256K1 specification has been run, albeit with 70 qubits. I think that very soon, someone who develops the qubit verification process and high-frequency quantum RAM the fastest and runs code for the SECP256K1 specification will start to crack some keys with a lower security level, even if not Bitcoin's 256-bit passwords. After that, by adding more qubits to their machines, they will build a system that can crack all 256-bit wallets simultaneously within a few years. These are not fantasies or very distant scenarios; it is the reduction of achievements in current CPUs and GPUs from millennia to minutes with quantum power. The article strongly emphasizes that 2029 is the deadline for transitioning to quantum encryption. We must have switched to quantum encryption within 3 years, otherwise no wallet will be completely secure. I think this can be done with Google's Willow chip, but Google hasn't made any statement about it yet.

[NotFuzzyWarm]

Once again folks are taking things way out of context. It is extraordinarily difficult to add more qubits as coherence between them is very quickly lost. I for one highly doubt there will be a real-world cryptography-relevant  QC in even 10 years.

It should be pointed out that 15 bit keys have been cracked long ago by CPU's & GPU's. Just as with QC's, cracking simple keys does not mean that larger ones will soon follow.

[John_Ahmet]

Once again folks are taking things way out of context. It is extraordinarily difficult to add more qubits as coherence between them is very quickly lost. I for one highly doubt there will be a real-world cryptography-relevant  QC in even 10 years.

It should be pointed out that 15 bit keys have been cracked long ago by CPU's & GPU's. Just as with QC's, cracking simple keys does not mean that larger ones will soon follow.

We never stray from the context of any topic. Are you perhaps unaware of Bitcoin cryptography, current research in this field, and the development of quantum computers? You know nothing, yet you say there's still more than 10 years to go. It's absurd that you're even commenting with this level of ignorance, but the forum might tolerate it because they see people like you as being on their side.

1. Have you ever written code related to Bitcoin cryptography?
2. Have you heard the news that the first quantum computer with a capacity of 5 qubits was prepared by IBM in 2018, and that Google announced a 1000-qubit chip in 2024, after which they stated that qubit error correction methods have greatly improved? Furthermore, have you even briefly researched the work related to quantum computing?

If your answer to both of these questions is no, then I think you are giving people unnecessary and false hope. That's your problem.

Moreover, the development of quantum computers by various amateur groups is possible solely with the Puzzle Fund, as this fund, worth 936.52 BTC, is sufficient to accelerate research in this field.

[Faisal2202]

But there is something significant to note;
This attempt is 512x bigger than last attempt; so, it should raise a concern that quantum computers is not a myth. It could be nearer than projected. if you are a long term hodler, stay informed and follow up bitcoin development.

I can't agree more because Q Day is not a myth anymore, I know how it sounds like G Day (Godzilla day, in the movies). Anyway, those who don't know what Q Day is, it is a day when Quantum computers will be able to break the vulnerable addresses, which are reported as the P2PK ones and almost 7 million BTC are in wallets with this standard.

I did not know about the lelli because I just read the title of the news yesterday and I thought he must have found some bug but I did not knew he has used QC available online to break the key. Although we are not in danger yet but we will be soon if a better proposal won't be introduced by the developers. So far I don't think theymos or any other OG has said something about it right?

[Cryptomultiplier]

Once again folks are taking things way out of context. It is extraordinarily difficult to add more qubits as coherence between them is very quickly lost. I for one highly doubt there will be a real-world cryptography-relevant  QC in even 10 years.

It should be pointed out that 15 bit keys have been cracked long ago by CPU's & GPU's. Just as with QC's, cracking simple keys does not mean that larger ones will soon follow.

Am sure Bitcoin core developers won't just fold their hands and let QC rubbish all the hardwork that has been put into ensuring safety and decentralized privacy on the Bitcoin network, because while it may be safer for cold storage holders, I doubt hot wallet users stand a chance, still am sure there would be upgrades to make QC encounter much difficulty if ever put to the test to crack more but keys in the nearest future.
QC are still not as sophisticated because AI is more in an advanced state to track and probe and disseminate this earlier versions of QC which of course would need better sophistication to be badder.

[Donneski]

The crack that caused the panic among Bitcoiners was just small-scale demonstration. The gap between 15-bit and real world Bitcoin key sizes is actually very large. The clickbait to a large extent, did it's job as so many people were more concerned about the "Bitcoin cracked" headline while skipping the detail where it was just a tiny test case.

That said , it's important to note that quantum progress is real just like you said and in the nearest future, Bitcoin will need to adapt maybe at the signature level. So for now, what we witnessed is a reminder of what's to come in the future and why we should stay updated.

[jossiel]

if you are a long term hodler, stay informed and follow up bitcoin development.

Now this is going to cause panic. 

Kidding aside, I agree that those who don't believe quantum computers can't break the network should always be updated and follow the developments.

Whether we believe that or we don't, it's best to be informed at all times. With these tests that are being conducted, it's a good basis on how we should react.

[AmoreJaz]

Once again folks are taking things way out of context. It is extraordinarily difficult to add more qubits as coherence between them is very quickly lost. I for one highly doubt there will be a real-world cryptography-relevant  QC in even 10 years.

It should be pointed out that 15 bit keys have been cracked long ago by CPU's & GPU's. Just as with QC's, cracking simple keys does not mean that larger ones will soon follow.

It would take time before quantum computers can really penetrate btc security features. And by that time, I would say, btc developers already found a way how to address those potential threats. So for me, I don't think btc developers will just sleep while they know there's something going on in this technological market.

[dansus021]

Did you read the news from phemex that In September 2025, the record was only a 6-bit key. Lelli’s jump to 15 bits in just seven months represents a 512-fold increase in quantum cracking capability, and like my previous post before this The thread mentions the 256-bit "bank vault," but we need to mention the March 31, 2026 breakthrough from Google Quantum AI. They proved that a quantum computer with roughly 500,000 physical qubits could crack a Bitcoin key in just 9 minutes.

It is getting scary tho but hey our btc is safe atleast for now if those qubit really work not just bitcoin that can be breached but lot of talk and event in real life that quantum gonna massive and people like Vitalik also concern about this one. Human is really built something that bigger than anything if the AGI and Quantum really exist we just play god.

[John_Ahmet]

Did you read the news from phemex that In September 2025, the record was only a 6-bit key. Lelli’s jump to 15 bits in just seven months represents a 512-fold increase in quantum cracking capability, and like my previous post before this The thread mentions the 256-bit "bank vault," but we need to mention the March 31, 2026 breakthrough from Google Quantum AI. They proved that a quantum computer with roughly 500,000 physical qubits could crack a Bitcoin key in just 9 minutes.

It is getting scary tho but hey our btc is safe atleast for now if those qubit really work not just bitcoin that can be breached but lot of talk and event in real life that quantum gonna massive and people like Vitalik also concern about this one. Human is really built something that bigger than anything if the AGI and Quantum really exist we just play god.

It felt good to read a comment from someone knowledgeable on the subject. If anyone has access to Google's 105-qubit Willow chip, a test could be conducted with that as well. I'm really curious about the results.

I think much better could have been done with the existing equipment.

[Mate2237]

This has been the biggest fear in the mind of every Bitcoiner, the so called threat coming from quantum computer, and every day we are hearing about Bitcoin been in threat, I don't think that this is actually a small fit even though we know that the level of encryption that were broken by the quantum computer was way below power with that of Bitcoin. But yet this still calls for concern if you ask me.


But there was been reports of Bitcoin researchers trying to prepare for the possible threats which may likely come from Bitcoin when quantum computers are fully developed.

[NotFuzzyWarm]

Well for a mere $20million one could get D-Wave's latest Quantum Computer which has 5000 qubits to play around with... That makes Google's Willow look like a toy tho Google's is different tech (gates) as opposed to D-Wave using 'Annealing' tech.

Oh, btw: Founded in 1999, D-Wave was the 1st company to offer QC's for sale to corporate labs & enterprises tho of course the early ones were very very limited in what they could do. Like all QC's so far, even their latest one in production is not very good at math. That said, it IS being used successfully for things like logistics planing and topological problems like protein folding for medical research. Google's and many other companies offerings are still for their research labs only and only offer cloud access to them.

A sampling of what D-Wave's QC's can do is here Note that they all are applications involving geometry or topology - not mathematics per se.
Sample coding examples are here One of them is a demo of POW blockchain QC mining. It should be noted that NONE of the examples are related to cracking RSA security.

[CryptoYar]

[...]

Many people in media take the Quantum Threat more seriously than it deserves, but in tech world it is understood and we have plan. Bitcoin currently uses ECDSA encryption, which is indeed vulnerable to Shor's algorithm, but it could take decades until we have a quantum computer with sufficient stable qubits to break private key in reality.

What's great about Bitcoin is that it's software, and software can be upgraded. We already have Post-Quantum Cryptography signatures in development. Question is not so much tech, but coordination necessary to do soft fork for people to converge on quantum resistant addresses. If academics keep up with hardware, Bitcoin will move to next step, as per usual. It is game of cat and mouse, but network is well ahead.

[Pablo-wood]

If the future attempt is 512x bigger than the first  which is 15-bit out of 256-bit then it will take longer to crack bitcoin. It's undoubtedly a big milestone and worth rewarding 1btc. My few concerns though is quantum computing plus AI won't it be a big game changer.

With more and consistent attacks there might be a possible success in the nearest future. 15-bit might look small but we might not know how close we are to closing the gap.

[Livingleged]

Many people in media take the Quantum Threat more seriously than it deserves, but in tech world it is understood and we have plan. Bitcoin currently uses ECDSA encryption, which is indeed vulnerable to Shor's algorithm, but it could take decades until we have a quantum computer with sufficient stable qubits to break private key in reality.

Honestly I do not think people on the media are actually doing too much or overthinking the issue about quantum computer and it’s possible attack on private keys. It’s definitely a serious matter of concern and I really appreciate what some developers are doing on the technical  board to see that the bitcoin is resistant to every possible attack from the quantum computers.
If the media is silent about it, the developers might just sit and assume everything is alright and that it’s just a myth and research on the quantum resistance will be left to just few persons. Let me refer you to a thread see couple of a developer proposing a quantum resistance idea. I am sure you’ll appreciate it more if you follow up with the thread

[myfik11]

I think the news sounds scarier than it really is. Still, it is a useful warning that technology keeps improving and Bitcoin should keep preparing for the future.

[UmerIdrees]

Hey! Don’t panic, that was a click-bait. Your BTC is safe.

Quantum threat is real for Bitcoin BTC, and therefore there are investors who are hesitant to invest in BTC. If there wasn't any threat, they would have bought a lot more, but they have limited their holdings. This holds true for many ETF investors and whales, too. However, the good news is that Bitcoin will upgrade itself to be quantum resistant, but until it is upgraded, the threat will remain.

Also, this Quantum computing threat is even more for the banks and other financial institutions, but they aren't planning like the bitcoin investors, don't know the reason? Maybe they aren't aware as we are 

[bitcoindusts]

Also, this Quantum computing threat is even more for the banks and other financial institutions, but they aren't planning like the bitcoin investors, don't know the reason? Maybe they aren't aware as we are 

Centralized services like bank have insurance, so customer actually don't care because they know that their money on the bank is insured, if the bank messed up, as long as their deposit does not exceed the limit, their funds will be returned.  Unlike in cryptocurrency when our wallet is breached, since it is self-custody, there is no one paying it back to us.

Aside from that banks already know the threat brought by quantum computers.  here is an article (https://www.banque-france.fr/en/press-release/banque-de-france-announces-success-experiment-securing-central-bank-regulatory-files-transfers-pos) that shows that banks already made their move to prepare for the threat of quantum computers.