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

The threat of a quantum attack on Bitcoin's underlying technology 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 marks the largest public demonstration of a quantum attack that could potentially threaten Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other major blockchains. Elliptic curve cryptography, which enables crypto wallets to prove control over funds without revealing private keys, is secured by the assumption that deriving a private key from its public counterpart is practically impossible. However, quantum computers running Shor's algorithm challenge this assumption. Lelli's achievement does not pose an immediate threat to Bitcoin, as it uses 256-bit elliptic curve security, but it does demonstrate the rapid progress being made in quantum attacks. The previous public break was a 6-bit demonstration, and Lelli's result represents a 512-fold increase 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 already visible on-chain, with approximately 6.9 million bitcoin at risk. To mitigate this threat, developers have proposed migration paths, including the introduction of quantum-safe address types.