New quantum findings reduce crypto security timelines

Google researchers have revised expectations around the computational requirements needed to break widely used cryptographic systems protecting cryptocurrencies.

The company’s latest whitepaper claims a future quantum machine could solve the elliptic curve discrete logarithm problem using significantly fewer resources than previously assumed.

Earlier estimates suggested millions of qubits would be required to break encryption schemes such as secp256k1, which underpins Bitcoin security.

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The new findings indicate fewer than 500,000 physical qubits could be sufficient, representing a substantial reduction in expected hardware requirements.

The research outlines two quantum circuit designs capable ...