Quantum computing advances lower bar for cracking BTC, ETH, says Caltech

The specifications for a quantum computer needed to crack the cryptographic systems of Bitcoin and Ethereum appear to be much lower than previously expected, according to a report from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and quantum startup Oratomic, as reported by Decrypt. The report warns that a "neutral atom system," which uses lasers to control individual atoms, could potentially derive a private key from a public key in the Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) used by BTC and ETH with around 10,000 qubits. Decrypt explained that while this technical possibility does not imply immediate practical application, the threat from quantum computers has served as a wake-up call for governments and tech companies. Ethereum has made quantum security a key part of its roadmap for this year, and the Bitcoin community is also pursuing the adoption of quantum-resistant signature algorithms. Google has previously published a report with similar findings, suggesting that cryptocurrencies could become vulnerable to quantum computing attacks sooner than anticipated.