Quantum Resources for Hacking Bitcoin Reduced 17-Fold

Alice & Bob researchers have presented a new quantum computing model that reduces the hardware requirements for breaking Bitcoin cryptography.

New Estimates

It may take as few as 29,588 physical qubits to obtain a Bitcoin private key. This is approximately 17 times less than Google's previous estimate of around 500,000 qubits.

According to the researchers' calculations, the hack could take only 62 minutes. This is still not enough for a reliable attack on unconfirmed transactions, given that a new block appears in the BTC network every 10 minutes on average.

Threats and Prospects

More than 6 million BTC are potentially at risk. These are coins held at addresses where public keys have already been disclosed. A sufficiently powerful quantum computer could theoretically calculate the corresponding private keys.

The real threat could arise as early as the early 2030s. According to Alice & Bob's forecasts, by then progress in quantum computer development and reduced resource requirements could make such attacks practically feasible.