Researcher Claims 1 Bitcoin Bounty for Achieving Largest Quantum Attack on Underlying Technology

The threat of quantum attacks on Bitcoin's security has become more tangible. Quantum security startup Project Eleven awarded a 1 bitcoin bounty, valued at approximately $78,000, to independent researcher Giancarlo Lelli for breaking a 15-bit elliptic curve key on publicly accessible quantum hardware. This achievement demonstrates the largest public quantum attack on elliptic curve cryptography to date, with Lelli deriving a private encryption key from its public counterpart. Although this breakthrough does not immediately compromise Bitcoin's security, which relies on 256-bit elliptic curve security, it underscores the growing concern about the potential risks posed by quantum computers. Elliptic curve cryptography enables a crypto wallet to prove control over funds without revealing its private key, but quantum computers running Shor's algorithm can challenge this assumption. Lelli's result expanded the previous public break of a 6-bit demonstration by a factor of 512 in just seven months. Theoretical estimates suggest that the resource requirements for a full 256-bit attack are decreasing rapidly, with a recent Google Research paper estimating the cost to be below 500,000 physical qubits. This has significant implications for wallets with public keys visible on-chain, with approximately 6.9 million bitcoin at risk. In response, Bitcoin developers have proposed migration paths, including the introduction of quantum-safe address types, while other blockchain platforms like Ethereum, Tron, StarkWare, and Ripple have also published post-quantum transition plans.