{"id":14397,"date":"2025-02-21T18:33:41","date_gmt":"2025-02-21T18:33:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=14397"},"modified":"2025-02-21T18:33:41","modified_gmt":"2025-02-21T18:33:41","slug":"bitcoins-quantum-race-can-it-survive-microsofts-majorana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=14397","title":{"rendered":"Bitcoin\u2019s Quantum Race: Can It Survive Microsoft\u2019s Majorana?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Is quantum computing threatening Bitcoin sooner than expected? On Wednesday, Microsoft unveiled its first quantum computing chip, dubbed \u201cMajorana 1.\u201d While the tech community has long speculated about Google\u2019s next-generation quantum effort\u2014often referred to as \u201cWillow\u201d\u2014Microsoft\u2019s announcement places renewed focus on the looming question: Can Bitcoin survive the accelerated push toward million-qubit machines?<\/p>\n

Microsoft claims that Majorana 1 leverages a new topological core architecture designed to bring quantum computing<\/a> out of the lab and into meaningful, real-world applications \u201cin years, rather than in decades.\u201d The chip\u2019s unique design reportedly allows quantum systems to operate for longer periods and at more stable states than previous generations.<\/p>\n

According to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, the company\u2019s roadmap points to a one-million-qubit device by around 2027\u20132029\u2014an ambition many in the field consider necessary for tackling \u201cindustrial-scale\u201d computational tasks.<\/p>\n

Is Bitcoin At Risk?<\/h2>\n

While most financial institutions rely on layered security systems, Bitcoin\u2019s reliance on public-key cryptography has many wondering if it could be an easier target for quantum attacks. A Bitcoin-focused financial platform, River, sounded the alarm in a recent X thread<\/a>, noting that \u201c1 million qubits can potentially crack a BTC address.\u201d They cautioned that \u201cthe Majorana 1 chip is far from that scale now, but could reach the 1 million mark by 2027-2029.\u201d<\/p>\n

River\u2019s analysis also suggested that a device with 13 to 300 million qubits\u2014once stabilized\u2014could theoretically break a Bitcoin address within hours, potentially placing up to 5.9 million BTC at risk. Though today\u2019s quantum computers are nowhere near that capacity, River stressed that Microsoft<\/a>\u2019s achievements shorten the overall timeline, meaning Bitcoin developers cannot afford complacency.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen run for several days to weeks, a 1-million qubit QC could potentially crack Bitcoin addresses via a long-range attack. [\u2026] More realistically, we\u2019d need a QC with 13-300 million qubits to carry out a long-range attack in 1-8 hours. If achieved, this would put 5.9 million BTC at immediate risk. Remember that the best QCs today have only 1,000 qubits. Still, this breakthrough shortens the timeline to make Bitcoin quantum-resistant,\u201d River writes.<\/p>\n

Alexander Leishman, CEO of River, emphasizes<\/a> in a post on X that BTC\u2019s unique setup could expose it more directly to quantum threats compared to banks and other centralized entities. \u201cAccess to a public key equals access to the money,\u201d he said, pointing out that traditional banking systems rely on a host of protective layers. Even if quantum hardware were to render HTTPS encryption obsolete, Leishman noted that hackers would still have to surmount additional firewalls, authentication protocols, and in-person security checks to breach a bank.<\/p>\n

In contrast, once a Bitcoin public key has been revealed (as happens when BTC is sent from an address), a sufficiently powerful quantum computer might bypass the corresponding private key if it can run the right algorithm for enough time. Leishman admitted he is \u201cskeptical it\u2019s a near-term problem,\u201d but emphasized that ignoring the quantum threat could be shortsighted.<\/p>\n

\u201cA quantum computer will not magically give you access to all of the money at Goldman Sachs<\/a>. It WILL magically give you access to many billions of dollars worth of Bitcoin. Again, I don\u2019t think this threat is viable any time soon but it\u2019s important that we discuss the issue honestly\u201d, he argues.<\/p>\n

Prominent Bitcoin commentator Preston Pysh joined the discussion via X, asking if the community should \u201cprioritize engineering quantum-resistant addresses\u201d and pointing to BIP-360 (the proposed P2QRH framework). Pysh suggested that this proposal could potentially be enacted through a soft fork, a method that typically allows for backward compatibility while adding new features to the Bitcoin protocol.<\/p>\n

Leishman agreed that securing Bitcoin against quantum attacks should be a priority, though he urged against rushing any modifications. \u201cWe shouldn\u2019t rush anything,\u201d he remarked, signaling a preference for careful research and consensus-building among Bitcoin Core developers and the broader community.<\/p>\n

At press time, BTC traded at $98,337.<\/p>\n

\"Bitcoin<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is quantum computing threatening Bitcoin sooner than expected? On Wednesday, Microsoft unveiled its first quantum computing chip, dubbed \u201cMajorana 1.\u201d While the tech community has long speculated about Google\u2019s next-generation quantum effort\u2014often referred to as \u201cWillow\u201d\u2014Microsoft\u2019s announcement places renewed focus on the looming question: Can Bitcoin survive the accelerated push toward million-qubit machines? Microsoft claims […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3,4,5],"class_list":["post-14397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-crypto","tag-doge","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14397\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}