Quantum Researchers Offer 1 Bitcoin To Break ‘Toy Version’

A quantum‑computing collective often known as Venture Eleven has thrown down a public gauntlet to the worldwide cryptography group, providing a reward of 1 Bitcoin to the primary group that may break a intentionally down‑scaled model of Bitcoin’s elliptic‑curve cryptography utilizing a real quantum laptop earlier than 5 April 2026.

Saying what it calls the “Q‑Day Prize” on X, the group wrote: “We simply launched the Q‑Day Prize. 1 BTC to the primary group to interrupt a toy model of Bitcoin’s cryptography utilizing a quantum laptop. Deadline: April 5, 2026. Mission: Defend 6 M BTC (over $500 B).” The put up crystallises a priority that has hovered over the Bitcoin ecosystem for greater than a decade: the eventual arrival of huge‑scale, error‑corrected quantum {hardware} able to working Shor’s algorithm in opposition to actual‑world keys.

Venture Eleven will not be asking contestants to shatter Bitcoin’s 256‑bit curve instantly. As an alternative, groups should reveal Shor’s algorithm in opposition to elliptic‑curve keys starting from one to twenty‑5 bits—sizes derisively known as “toy” by skilled cryptographers however nonetheless orders of magnitude past what has been publicly achieved on bodily quantum processors. The organisers argue that even a 3‑bit break could be “massive information,” as a result of it could present the primary quantitatively verifiable benchmark of quantum progress on the elliptic‑curve discrete‑log drawback (ECDLP). Of their phrases, “No one has rigorously benchmarked this risk but.”

To qualify, a submission should embrace gate‑stage code or specific directions runnable on precise quantum {hardware}, together with a story of strategies employed, error‑charges managed and the classical put up‑processing required. Hybrid assaults that lean on classical shortcuts are disallowed. All entries can be printed, a call the group frames as an train in radical transparency: “As an alternative of ready for breakthroughs to occur behind closed doorways, we imagine in dealing with this problem head‑on, in a clear and rigorous method.”

Why 1 Bitcoin—And Why Now?

Bitcoin’s safety in the end rests on the hardness of the discrete‑logarithm drawback over the secp256k1 curve. Whereas classical assaults scale exponentially, Peter Shor’s 1994 quantum algorithm might in precept clear up the issue in polynomial time, collapsing the fee from cosmic to merely gargantuan. Present analysis estimates that on the order of two thousand totally error‑corrected logical qubits—maybe backed by tens of millions of bodily qubits—could be adequate to threaten a 256‑bit key. Companies reminiscent of Google, IBM, IonQ and newcomer QuEra are racing to cross the 4‑digit logical‑qubit threshold, although none has publicly demonstrated something near that functionality right now.

Venture Eleven says its prize is meant much less as a bounty and extra as a diagnostic. Greater than ten million Bitcoin addresses, holding over six million cash, have already uncovered their public keys by prior spending exercise. If quantum expertise crosses the crucial threshold earlier than these cash are migrated to put up‑quantum addresses, the funds could be susceptible to instant theft. “Quantum computing is steadily progressing,” the group warns. “When that occurs, we have to know.”

The initiative lands amid a flurry of quantum‑resilience proposals inside the wider Bitcoin ecosystem. Earlier this month, a bunch of builders submitted the Quantum‑Resistant Handle Migration Protocol (QRAMP), a Bitcoin Enchancment Proposal that may orchestrate a community‑large transfer to put up‑quantum key codecs. As a result of QRAMP would require a consensus‑breaking onerous fork, its political prospects stay unsure.

Individually, Canadian startup BTQ has pitched an unique proof‑of‑work various known as Coarse‑Grained Boson Sampling, which might substitute right now’s hash‑based mostly mining puzzles with photonic sampling duties executed on quantum {hardware}. Like QRAMP, BTQ’s idea calls for a tough fork and has but to garner broad help.

From a technical standpoint, working even a 5‑bit elliptic‑curve model of Shor’s algorithm is brutally unforgiving: qubits with fidelities above 99.9 %, coherent for a whole lot of microseconds, and orchestrated by deep circuits numbering within the hundreds of two‑qubit gates could be required. Error‑correction overhead additional compounds the engineering burden, that means that contenders will seemingly need to make use of small‑code logical qubits and spectacular compilation methods merely to maintain noise underneath management.

But the prize could show irresistible for college labs and company R&D groups wanting to reveal sensible quantum benefit. Cloud‑accessible units from IBM’s Quantum System Two, Quantinuum’s H‑sequence and OQC’s superconducting platforms already permit restricted, pay‑per‑shot entry to dozens—or in IBM’s case, a whole lot—of bodily qubits. Whether or not any of these machines can maintain the circuit depth obligatory stays to be seen.

Both final result provides invaluable information. Within the phrases of Venture Eleven’s launch tweet, the target is stark: “Break the most important ECC key with Shor’s algorithm. The reward: 1 BTC + go down in cryptography historical past.”

At press time, BTC traded at $84,771.

Featured picture created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com

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