Quantum computing has officially moved out of laboratories and into real-world business. While telecommunications giant AT&T is deploying next-generation commercial processors, Bitcoin has fallen toward the $63,000 mark. 

This contrast has prompted the market to discuss a shorter timeline to "Q-Day" — the moment when legacy blockchain encryption could be critically compromised.

Seconds instead of hours: AT&T and D-Wave breakthrough

The discussion was triggered by an expanded contract between AT&T and D-Wave Quantum Inc., under which the operator integrated quantum annealing technology into its network optimization algorithms.

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As a result, a complex network task that previously took one hour can now be completed in just 15 seconds. Against this backdrop, QBTS shares rose above $18.10 in premarket trading.

At the same time, Bitcoin slipped toward the $63,000 mark, triggering $100 million in forced liquidations of traders' positions. The current decline has been driven by external factors, including a drop in South Korea's KOSPI index, a sell-off in the semiconductor sector, and expectations surrounding the upcoming U.S. Federal Reserve meeting.

Bitcoin price chart with an alarm from Capriole Fund's Charles Edwards regarding AT&T's quantum breakthrough, Source: TradingView

However, the downturn has also brought security risks back into focus. Experts such as Quantum Xchange CEO Eddy Zervigon have directly described cryptocurrencies as a "canary in the coal mine" in the face of the quantum threat. They predict that blockchain protocols could become the first targets because of their decentralized nature.

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Meanwhile, the "Q-Day" clock is ticking faster:

• Google researchers have reduced their estimate of the computing power required to break Bitcoin by 20 times. They now believe fewer than 500,000 physical qubits would be needed.
• The U.S. Department of Energy expects a powerful quantum computer to be built within the next three years.
• Corporations including IBM and Microsoft are preparing the market for the arrival of cryptographically relevant systems by 2029.

AT&T's success has demonstrated that the quantum era is already a real business process. Bitcoin's main challenge now lies elsewhere: whether its community can agree on an encryption upgrade before it is too late.

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