Breakthrough in Quantum Attack: Researcher Claims 1 Bitcoin Bounty

The threat of quantum attacks on cryptocurrency has become more tangible, as evidenced by the recent achievement of independent researcher Giancarlo Lelli. Lelli has been awarded a 1 bitcoin bounty, valued at approximately $78,000, by quantum security startup Project Eleven for breaking a 15-bit elliptic curve key on publicly accessible quantum hardware. This breakthrough demonstrates the potential risks associated with quantum computing and its impact on the security of major blockchains, including Bitcoin and Ethereum. Elliptic curve cryptography, a crucial component of cryptocurrency wallets, relies on the difficulty of deriving a private key from its public counterpart. However, quantum computers utilizing Shor's algorithm pose a significant challenge to this assumption. Although Lelli's achievement does not immediately compromise the security of Bitcoin, which employs 256-bit elliptic curve security, it underscores the need for vigilance and proactive measures to mitigate potential quantum threats. The previous public demonstration of a quantum attack was a 6-bit break, achieved by Steve Tippeconnic in September 2025 using IBM's 133-qubit quantum computer. Lelli's result marks a substantial increase, expanding the previous demonstration 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 estimating the cost to be below 500,000 physical qubits. This downward trend in resource requirements has significant implications for the security of wallets with publicly visible keys, estimated to be around 6.9 million bitcoin, or roughly one-third of the total supply. In response to these concerns, Bitcoin developers have proposed migration paths, including the implementation of quantum-safe address types. Similarly, other cryptocurrency platforms, such as Ethereum, Tron, StarkWare, and Ripple, have also published post-quantum transition plans to address the potential risks associated with quantum computing.