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

A significant breakthrough has been made in the field of quantum attacks, as independent researcher Giancarlo Lelli has been awarded a 1 bitcoin bounty for breaking a 15-bit elliptic curve key on publicly accessible quantum hardware. This achievement, made possible through the use of quantum technique Shor's algorithm, has sparked concern among bitcoin developers and the broader community. Elliptic curve cryptography, which underpins the security of most major blockchains, including bitcoin and ether, is being challenged by the increasing power of quantum computers. While Lelli's result is significant, it does not pose an immediate threat to bitcoin, which uses 256-bit elliptic curve security. However, the fact that the barrier to running such attacks is dropping rapidly has raised concerns about the long-term security of wallets whose public keys are already visible on-chain. Project Eleven, the organization behind the Q-Day Prize, has emphasized the need for migration paths to quantum-safe address types, with proposals such as BIP-360 already being considered by bitcoin developers.