{"id":127341,"date":"2025-04-17T02:17:39","date_gmt":"2025-04-17T02:17:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/?p=127341"},"modified":"2025-04-17T02:17:39","modified_gmt":"2025-04-17T02:17:39","slug":"project-11-is-offering-1-btc-to-whoever-cracks-the-longest-bitcoin-key","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/?p=127341","title":{"rendered":"Project 11 is offering 1 BTC to whoever cracks the longest Bitcoin key"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Source: Cointelegraph.com NewsQuantum computing research firm Project Eleven has launched a competition to see just how much of a threat quantum computing currently poses to Bitcoin.<br \/>\nLaunching the competition on April 16, Project Eleven said it is offering 1 Bitcoin (BTC) to whoever cracks the biggest chunk of a Bitcoin key using a quantum computer within the next year.\u00a0<br \/>\nProject Eleven said the purpose of the \u201cQ-Day Prize\u201d is to test \u201chow urgent the threat\u201d of quantum is to Bitcoin and to find quantum-proof solutions to secure Bitcoin over the long term.<br \/>\n\u201c10 million+ addresses have exposed public keys. Quantum computing is steadily progressing. Nobody has rigorously benchmarked this threat yet,\u201d Project Eleven wrote on X on April 16.<br \/>\nMore than 6 million Bitcoin \u2014 worth around $500 billion \u2014 could be at risk if quantum computers become powerful enough to crack elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) keys, Project Eleven said.<br \/>\nParticipants can register as individuals or as a team and have until April 5, 2026, to complete the task. The prize winner will win 1 Bitcoin, currently worth $84,100.<br \/>\nSource: Project ElevenThe aim is to run Shor&#8217;s algorithm on a quantum computer to crack as many bits of a Bitcoin key as possible, acting as a proof-of-concept that the technique could scale to crack a full, 256-bit Bitcoin key once the necessary compute is available.\u00a0<br \/>\n\u201cThe mission: break the largest ECC key possible using Shor&#8217;s algorithm on a quantum computer. No classical shortcuts. No hybrid tricks. Pure quantum power,\u201d Project Eleven said.<br \/>\n\u201cYou don&#8217;t need to break a Bitcoin key. A 3-bit key would be big news,\u201d it added.<br \/>\nNo ECC key used in real-world applications has ever been cracked, noted Project Eleven, adding that the winner could \u201cgo down in cryptography history.\u201d<br \/>\nProject Eleven noted that several online platforms offer quantum computing access, such as Amazon Web Services and IBM.<br \/>\nSource: Jameson LoppRelated: Bitcoin\u2019s quantum-resistant hard fork is inevitable \u2014 It\u2019s the only chance to fix node incentives<br \/>\nCurrent estimates suggest that around 2,000 logical qubits (error-corrected) would be enough to break a 256-bit ECC key, Project Eleven noted.<br \/>\nIBM\u2019s Heron chip and Google\u2019s Willow can currently do 156 and 105 qubits \u2014 significant enough to cause concern, according to Project Eleven, which believes a 2,000-qubit quantum system could be developed within the next decade.<br \/>\nQuantum threat to Bitcoin is real but there\u2019s time, Bitcoiners say<br \/>\nBitcoin cypherpunk Jameson Lopp recently said the question of how concerned the industry should be about quantum computing is currently \u201cunanswerable.\u201d<br \/>\n\u201cI think it&#8217;s far from a crisis, but given the difficulty in changing Bitcoin it&#8217;s worth starting to seriously discuss,\u201d Lopp said in a March 16 post.<br \/>\nIn February, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said the concern is well-founded but is confident that quantum-proof Bitcoin addresses will be implemented well before any \u201cserious threat\u201d emerges.<br \/>\nSource: Paolo ArdoinoMagazine: Bitcoin vs. the quantum computer threat: Timeline and solutions (2025\u20132035)<a href=\"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/news\/quantum-researchers-offer-1-btc-breaks-part-of-bitcoin-cryptography?utm_source=rss_feed&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=rss_partner_inbound\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"feedzy-rss-link-icon\" rel=\"noopener\">Read More<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Source: Cointelegraph.com NewsQuantum computing research firm Project Eleven has launched a competition to see just how much of a threat quantum computing currently poses to Bitcoin. Launching the competition on&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127341"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=127341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127341\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=127341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=127341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=127341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}