It is still unknown how long it will be before real working quantum computers appear, and blockchaindevelopers are already worried about their ability to break encryption. Cryptocurrencies are based on elliptic cryptography (ECC), which protects data by solving certain highly complex mathematical problems. Conventional computers would need about 1.8 × 10 times the power of a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin or Ethereum to crack it57 years, which is billions of times the age of the Universe.
However Google Willow quantum chip shows that the threat really exists. It would take a quantum computer with 1.9 billion qubits to hack the Bitcoin network in just 10 minutes. At the same time, modern quantum computers have a much smaller number of qubits: Willow has only 105 qubits. So, according to experts, it will take another 10-20 years for a real threat to emerge.
To test Bitcoin’s resistance to quantum attacks, Project 11 has announced the launch of the Q-Day Prize. The first person to crack a simplified version of Bitcoin’s cryptography based on elliptic curves (ECC) using a quantum computer will receive a 1 BTC reward. The deadline for the task is April 5, 2026.
Shor’s algorithm allows for the efficient computation of discrete logarithms, which jeopardizes the private keys used to secure bitcoin wallets.
The contest requires participants to crack a 5-bit key — significantly smaller than the standard 256-bit bitcoin keys. Although this is a simplistic task, success in solving it could be a breakthrough that would signal the rapid development of quantum technologies.
More than 10 million bitcoin addresses have public keys exposed, making them potentially vulnerable to quantum attacks in the future.
Source: Q-Day Prize
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