Quantum
Bitcoin's collision with quantum computing — the shrinking qubit threshold, the migration proposals, and the clock now running on the federal timeline.
Google Cut the Estimated Qubit Threshold for Breaking Bitcoin by 20x
On March 31, Google's Quantum AI team published a whitepaper arguing that breaking elliptic-curve cryptography — the signature scheme securing Bitcoin — may require far fewer quantum resources than prior estimates.
Four Bitcoin Proposals for Surviving a Quantum Attack
Google's March 31 whitepaper compressed the estimated qubit threshold for breaking Bitcoin's elliptic-curve cryptography by 20x.
Two Papers Reframe Bitcoin's Quantum Threat as Mostly Misunderstood
The week after Google's quantum paper compressed the estimated hardware threshold for breaking Bitcoin's cryptography, two academic papers pushed back on how the threat is being framed in crypto media.
Bitcoin Quantum Prototypes Work Without Changing the Protocol
On April 10, Lightning Labs CTO Olaoluwa Osuntokun posted a working zk-STARK prototype to the Bitcoin developer mailing list that lets wallet owners prove key ownership without exposing their seed phrase — designed to…
BIP-361 Would Freeze Bitcoin That Doesn't Migrate to Quantum-Safe Addresses
On April 15, a group of Bitcoin developers including Casa CTO Jameson Lopp published BIP-361, titled 'Post Quantum Migration and Legacy Signature Sunset.'
Coinbase's Quantum Board Flags 6.9 Million Bitcoin as Vulnerable
Coinbase's Independent Advisory Board on Quantum Computing and Blockchain published its first position paper Tuesday.
Postquant Labs Shipped Quantum Protection Without a Bitcoin Soft Fork
On Tuesday, April 28, Postquant Labs announced Quip Network, a post-quantum Bitcoin wallet that uses Arch Network's Bitcoin-native smart contract layer to add WOTS+ hash-based signatures on top of Bitcoin's existing…
Project Eleven's 15-Bit Quantum Bounty, Reproduced in 20 Python Lines
On April 24, quantum security firm Project Eleven awarded its 1 Bitcoin Q-Day Prize to Italian researcher Giancarlo Lelli for breaking a 15-bit elliptic curve cryptography key on publicly accessible IBM Quantum hardware…
Trump Executive Order Moves Federal PQC Deadline to 2031
On Monday, June 22, President Trump signed two executive orders on quantum computing: one setting a target of deploying a scientifically relevant quantum computer at a national lab by 2028, and one moving the federal…
AI Agents and 100 Researchers Halved Google's Quantum Benchmark for Bitcoin's Curve. The Exposed Key Is What You Control
A paper posted to arXiv this week reports that more than 100 researchers and their AI coding agents, working in an open challenge run by Eigen Labs, cut a benchmark for the core arithmetic of a quantum attack on…
A Draft BIP Sorts Every Bitcoin Output Into 4 Quantum Exposure Classes. The Best One Available Is 'Exposed on Spend'
A draft Bitcoin Improvement Proposal under review since September 18, and revised Wednesday night after a BIP editor's first pass, defines 4 exposure classes for every existing output against a quantum attacker and…
Europol Says the Quantum Target Is Your Exposed Key. An Ethereum Researcher Says AI Could Get There First
Europol's European Cybercrime Centre published a report on quantum computing and cryptocurrency on Wednesday, October 7, concluding that wallet keys, not blockchains, are the point of exposure, that coins behind an…
EACH STEP IS A REAL REPORT FROM THE QUANTUM SERIES, IN PUBLICATION ORDER — SEQUENCED AND LINKED, NOT INVENTED NARRATIVE. SUMMARIES ARE THE REPORTS' OWN.