Catenaa, Friday, April 25, 2025-Quantum computing research firm Project Eleven is offering a reward of one Bitcoin (approximately $84,081) to the first team able to break Bitcoin’s cryptographic security within one year.
The “Q-Day Prize” aims to quantify the threat posed by quantum computers to the widely used cryptographic algorithms securing Bitcoin’s network.
Bitcoin uses elliptic curve digital signature algorithm (ECDSA) for transaction signatures, a system that could be vulnerable to quantum computers equipped with Shor’s algorithm.
Shor’s algorithm allows quantum machines to derive private keys from public keys, potentially compromising wallet security. Project Eleven estimates that over 6.2 million Bitcoin, worth nearly $500 billion, could be at risk.
Alex Pruden, CEO and co-founder of Project Eleven, highlighted the importance of understanding the true threat quantum computing presents to Bitcoin’s infrastructure. “The Q-Day Prize is designed to take a theoretical threat from a quantum computer and turn that into a concrete model,” Pruden said.
While quantum computing projects are underway at some of the world’s largest technology firms, including Amazon, Google, IBM, and Alibaba, experts estimate that breaking Bitcoin’s SHA-256 algorithm would require millions of stable qubits, which are not yet available.
However, recent breakthroughs, like Microsoft’s Majorana 1 quantum chip, have brought the theoretical threat closer to reality.
