Breakthrough in Quantum Attack: Researcher Claims 1 Bitcoin Bounty

The threat of quantum attacks on bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has become more tangible, as a recent breakthrough has demonstrated the ability to break a 15-bit elliptic curve key on publicly accessible quantum hardware. This achievement, made by independent researcher Giancarlo Lelli, has earned him a 1 bitcoin bounty, worth approximately $78,000, from quantum security startup Project Eleven. The attack, which utilized Shor's algorithm, highlights the potential vulnerability of elliptic curve cryptography, a crucial component of cryptocurrency security. Although the broken key is significantly smaller than the 256-bit keys used in bitcoin, the achievement marks a substantial increase in the scale of public demonstrations, with Lelli's result being 512 times larger than the previous public break. The implications of this breakthrough are far-reaching, with estimates suggesting that roughly 6.9 million bitcoin, approximately one-third of the total supply, are potentially vulnerable to quantum attacks due to their public keys being visible on-chain. In response, developers are exploring migration paths to quantum-safe address types, including the proposed Bitcoin Improvement Proposal, BIP-360.