Breakthrough in Quantum Attack on Cryptocurrency Underlying Tech Nets Researcher 1 Bitcoin Bounty

The threat of quantum attacks on cryptocurrency has become more tangible with the latest breakthrough by Giancarlo Lelli, an independent researcher who has been awarded a 1 bitcoin bounty by quantum security startup Project Eleven. Lelli's achievement involves breaking a 15-bit elliptic curve key on publicly accessible quantum hardware, a feat that is 512 times larger than the previous public demonstration. This bounty, valued at approximately $78,000, underscores the growing concern over the potential vulnerability of major blockchains, including Bitcoin and Ethereum, to quantum attacks. Elliptic curve cryptography, which enables crypto wallets to prove fund ownership without revealing private keys, is at the heart of this issue. Quantum computers, leveraging Shor's algorithm, pose a challenge to this cryptographic approach by potentially deriving private keys from public ones. Although Lelli's breakthrough does not immediately jeopardize Bitcoin, which uses 256-bit elliptic curve security, it signifies a crucial step in assessing the practicality of quantum attacks on real-world cryptographic products. The previous public demonstration, a 6-bit break by Steve Tippeconnic in September 2025, has been significantly surpassed, with Lelli's result expanding the attack scale 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 indicating that the cost could be below 500,000 physical qubits. This development has significant implications for wallets with publicly visible keys, with approximately 6.9 million Bitcoin, or one-third of the total supply, potentially at risk. In response, Bitcoin developers have proposed migration paths, including the introduction of quantum-safe address types, while other cryptocurrencies like Ethereum and Ripple are also exploring post-quantum transition plans.