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

The theoretical 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 marks the largest public demonstration of its kind, posing a potential threat to bitcoin, ether, and other major blockchains. Elliptic curve cryptography, which enables crypto wallets to prove fund control without revealing private keys, is being challenged by quantum computers utilizing Shor's algorithm. Although Lelli's result does not immediately jeopardize bitcoin, which uses 256-bit elliptic curve security, it signifies a notable advancement in quantum attacks on real-world cryptography-based products. The previous public break was a 6-bit demonstration, and Lelli's 15-bit result represents a 512-fold increase in just seven months. As the resource requirements for such attacks continue to decrease, the barrier to executing them in practice is also lowering. Project Eleven's CEO, Alex Pruden, noted that the winning submission came from an independent researcher using cloud-accessible hardware, highlighting the growing concern for wallets with publicly visible keys, which could be vulnerable to quantum computer attacks. Bitcoin developers have proposed migration paths, including BIP-360, to address this issue, while other cryptocurrencies, such as Ethereum and Ripple, have also published post-quantum transition plans.