New quantum model slashes hardware needed to break bitcoin keys by 17 times
Source: CoinDesk ·
From the source
Alice & Bob's new model reduces the hardware required for a potential attack, bringing it closer to reality and increasing pressure to adopt quantum-resistant security sooner. Researchers at quantum computing firm Alice & Bob estimate that a machine with about 30,000 physical qubits could break the cryptography protecting bitcoin wallets in just over an hour, using far less hardware than earlier models suggested. Google estimated in March that a future quantum computer would need fewer than 500,000 physical qubits to crack Bitcoin’s cryptography, down from previous estimates in the millions. Alice & Bob’s new estimate of 29,588 qubits is roughly 17 times lower than Google’s earlier figure, although the two studies use different hardware designs and assumptions. The findings suggest that the computing power needed to threaten Bitcoin could be smaller than previously expected, potentially also bringing such attacks closer to reality than previously believed. Alice & Bob’s research also…