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

The threat of quantum attacks on bitcoin has become more tangible after a researcher broke a 15-bit elliptic curve key on publicly accessible quantum hardware. Quantum security startup Project Eleven awarded a 1 bitcoin bounty to independent researcher Giancarlo Lelli for achieving this milestone. The bounty, worth approximately $78,000, marks the largest public demonstration of a quantum attack that could potentially threaten bitcoin and other major blockchains. Elliptic curve cryptography is a critical component of cryptocurrency wallets, enabling them to prove ownership of funds without revealing private keys. However, quantum computers running Shor's algorithm can challenge this security by attacking the underlying logic. Lelli's achievement does not mean bitcoin is vulnerable to immediate attack, as it uses 256-bit elliptic curve security. Nevertheless, the result highlights the rapid progress being made in quantum attacks, with the previous public break being a 6-bit demonstration just seven months ago. Theoretical estimates suggest that the resource requirements for a full 256-bit attack are decreasing, with some estimates putting the cost 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, bitcoin developers have proposed migration paths, including the introduction of quantum-safe address types.