Google Research Reveals Quantum Computing Could Break Bitcoin in Minutes by 2029

Google Quantum AI published a technical white paper that drastically lowered estimates to break Bitcoin and Ethereum cryptography.

A quantum computer with fewer than 500,000 physical qubits could recover private keys in roughly 9 to 23 minutes.

@coindesk

Approximately 6.5 million bitcoins could be vulnerable, including some of Satoshi Nakamoto's coins.

Ethereum's security faces similar exposure with an estimated 20 million ETH at risk.

The Google study focused on on-spend attacks exploiting the brief window when a transaction's public key is exposed.

A sufficiently advanced quantum computer could intercept and redirect a transaction within that time frame.

Benzinga

About 6.5 million bitcoins are potentially exposed to immediate risk.

Caltech researchers estimate an exploitable quantum computer could emerge before 2030.

Google set a target of 2029 for industry-wide migration to post-quantum cryptography.

Developers are considering multiple defenses including removing on-chain public keys and adopting hash-based signatures.

Proposals like Hourglass V2 would slow the spending of already-exposed coins.

Any changes face the challenge of gaining consensus in Bitcoin's decentralized governance.

Even a timely migration to PQC may not solve all problems.

Historical encrypted data already stored could be decrypted later.

bloomingbit

The Google study focused on algorithmic efficiency rather than hardware advancements.

Elon Musk commented: if you forget the password to your wallet, it will be accessible in the future.