Bitcoin’s Post-Quantum Solutions

Quantum computing has become a hot topic in the Bitcoin ecosystem. In March, Google Quantum AI and Oratomic/Caltech published whitepapers within hours of each other, each restating the resource estimates for breaking the cryptographic signature schemes that underlie property rights in the Bitcoin network. Each compressed the resources necessary to run Shor’s algorithm and break Bitcoin’s 256-bit Elliptic-Curve Cryptography (ECC-256). That milestone has shifted the quantum threat from “decades away” to “within a decade, possibly.”