Is Quantum Computing Threatening Bitcoin Sooner Than Expected?
New research reveals that over 100 researchers used AI coding agents to optimize Shor’s algorithm, reducing the resource score for Bitcoin’s secp256k1 elliptic curve subroutine by 86.1% (dropping from 10.75B to 1.496B).
No Immediate Breach: This optimization targets a single mathematical step. Cracking private keys or moving funds still requires fault-tolerant quantum hardware that does not yet exist.
On-Chain Risk: According to Glassnode data, roughly 6.04 million $BTC (30.2% of circulating supply) have public keys exposed on-chain, making them the primary vulnerability surface.
Governance Challenge: While Ethereum targets full quantum resistance by December 2029, Bitcoin faces significant consensus hurdles—including how to handle ~1.7M BTC sitting in dormant Satoshi-era P2PK addresses.
How should the Bitcoin community deal with dormant P2PK addresses before quantum hardware matures?
New research reveals that over 100 researchers used AI coding agents to optimize Shor’s algorithm, reducing the resource score for Bitcoin’s secp256k1 elliptic curve subroutine by 86.1% (dropping from 10.75B to 1.496B).
No Immediate Breach: This optimization targets a single mathematical step. Cracking private keys or moving funds still requires fault-tolerant quantum hardware that does not yet exist.
On-Chain Risk: According to Glassnode data, roughly 6.04 million $BTC (30.2% of circulating supply) have public keys exposed on-chain, making them the primary vulnerability surface.
Governance Challenge: While Ethereum targets full quantum resistance by December 2029, Bitcoin faces significant consensus hurdles—including how to handle ~1.7M BTC sitting in dormant Satoshi-era P2PK addresses.
How should the Bitcoin community deal with dormant P2PK addresses before quantum hardware matures?