Project Eleven recently introduced a competition to crack the cryptographic key of the BTC blockchain. Anyone who succeeds will receive a bounty.
To tout the security of Bitcoin (BTC) cryptography, quantum computing research and advocacy firm Project Eleven has launched the Q-Day Prize. The winner will walk away with 1 Bitcoin valued at approximately $84,888.12, following a 1.75% increase in the last 24 hours.
Can Bitcoin Cryptography be Destroyed?
According to an April 16 X post by Project Eleven, the mission of this competition is to “protect 6M BTC,” worth over $500 billion. All interested teams have almost one year to attempt this task. The exact deadline for the competition is April 5, 2025.
For context, the Q-Day Prize is a global competition that rewards 1 BTC to the first team that can destroy an Elliptic Curve Cryptographic (ECC) key, which secures the Bitcoin network. The ECC key leverages Shor’s algorithm, a quantum computing method that efficiently factors large numbers into their prime components.
The design of Shor’s algorithm theoretically allows quantum computers to break cryptographic algorithms like RSA and ECC, both used in Bitcoin and other blockchain networks.
Project Eleven announced this competition amid growing awareness of how quantum computing advancements can threaten BTC security.
Significantly, the odds of having a workable quantum computer soon, with enough capacity to destroy Bitcoin’s cryptography, are quite slim. Still, there are increasing concerns, especially with the identification of millions of non-zero balances potentially at risk of quantum attacks.
Google’s Willow May Threaten Bitcoin Cryptography
In December 2024, Google introduced Willow, a quantum supercomputer chip that can significantly boost computational power. By design, Google claimed that Willow can solve problems in under five minutes, whereas regular supercomputers ordinarily take billions of years to complete.
However, this advanced technology sparked talk about the future of encryption, cybersecurity, and Bitcoin. The innovative Google initiative threatened the complexity of Bitcoin, with features like passwords, encrypted messages, and even nuclear codes being at risk of quantum decryption.
While the outlook looks promising, the Bitcoin community and crypto developers are working to secure the blockchain. Meanwhile, quantum technology is progressing rapidly.
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