The Quantum Computer Era is Coming…When Will Bitcoin Security Be at Risk?

▲ Bitcoin (BTC), Quantum Computer/AI Generated Image ©

Fears that Bitcoin's encryption had been broken spread, but it was confirmed to be a result of limited experiments far from a 'complete hack'.

According to cryptocurrency specialized media Bitcoinist on April 28 (local time), researcher Giancarlo Lelli succeeded in decoding a portion of Elliptic Curve Cryptography, which is the basis of Bitcoin (BTC) security, using a quantum computer. He won a 1 BTC prize by cracking a 15-bit encryption key using publicly available quantum hardware and a variant of Shor's algorithm.

This achievement significantly surpasses previous records. Compared to the previous case in September 2025, which only decoded 6 bits, the complexity increased by 512 times. The speed of technological advancement is particularly noteworthy given that the task was completed in 45 minutes using publicly available quantum equipment of approximately 70 qubits.

However, this experiment does not immediately imply a collapse of Bitcoin's security. Bitcoin uses a 256-bit encryption system, not 15-bit, so there is a very large gap with current technological levels. Nevertheless, as the pace of quantum computing development accelerates, the possibility of a long-term threat is gradually becoming a realistic concern.

In particular, wallets with public keys disclosed on-chain are identified as a potential risk group. According to Project Eleven, approximately 6.9 million BTC, assets worth about $520 billion, fall into this category, including Satoshi Nakamoto's holdings of about 1.1 million BTC.

The market also mentions a strategy of 'collect now and decrypt later'. This method involves attackers accumulating currently public data and decrypting it when future quantum computer performance becomes sufficient. Recent research also suggests that the number of physical qubits required for 256-bit decryption could be reduced from less than 500,000 to around 10,000.

*Disclaimer: This article is for investment reference only, and we are not responsible for any investment losses based on it. This content should be interpreted for informational purposes only.*