Source: Cointelegraph Original: "{title}"
Quantum computing research company Project Eleven launches competition to explore the current threat level of quantum computing to Bitcoin (BTC)
On April 16, Project Eleven announced that it would offer a reward of 1 Bitcoin to participants who successfully use a quantum computer to crack the largest Bitcoin key fragment within the next year.
Project Eleven stated that the purpose of the "Q-Day Prize" is to test how "urgent" the threat of quantum computing is to Bitcoin and to seek quantum protection solutions to ensure the long-term security of Bitcoin.
Project Eleven wrote on the X platform on April 16: "Over 10 million addresses have exposed their public keys. Quantum computing is steadily advancing. No one has rigorously assessed this threat yet."
According to Project Eleven, if quantum computers become powerful enough to crack elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) keys, over 6 million Bitcoins (worth approximately $500 billion) could be at risk.
Participants can register individually or as a team, with a deadline of April 5, 2026. The winner will receive a reward of 1 Bitcoin, currently valued at $84,100.
The goal of the competition is to run Shor's algorithm on a quantum computer and attempt to crack as many Bitcoin key bits as possible. This will serve as a proof of concept, demonstrating that once the necessary computational power is available, the technology can scale to crack a complete 256-bit Bitcoin key.
"The task is to use Shor's algorithm on a quantum computer to crack the maximum possible ECC key. No classical computing shortcuts are allowed, and hybrid techniques are not permitted; it purely tests quantum computing capabilities," Project Eleven stated.
"You do not need to crack an entire Bitcoin key. Cracking a 3-bit key is already a significant breakthrough," the company added.
Project Eleven noted that no ECC keys have been cracked in any practical applications so far and stated that the winner will "leave a mark in cryptographic history."
Project Eleven mentioned that several online platforms, including Amazon Web Services (AWS) and IBM, offer access to quantum computing services.
According to Project Eleven, it is currently estimated that about 2,000 logical qubits (with error correction) would be sufficient to crack a 256-bit ECC key.
IBM's Heron chip and Google's Willow currently achieve 156 and 105 qubits, respectively—Project Eleven believes this number is already enough to raise concerns, and the company is confident that a quantum system with 2,000 qubits may be developed within the next decade.
Bitcoin cryptopunk Jameson Lopp recently stated that the question of how concerned the industry should be about quantum computing is currently "unanswerable."
"I think we are far from a crisis moment, but given the difficulty of changing Bitcoin, it is worth starting to seriously discuss this issue now," Lopp stated in a post on March 16.
In February of this year, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino stated that these concerns are valid, but he believes that anti-quantum Bitcoin addresses will be implemented before any "serious threat" arises.
Related: Bitcoin hash rate surpasses 1 Zetahash for the first time in history, tracker shows
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