researchers: Quantum computers could break crypto wallet encryption with just 10,000 qubits, researchers say

The research shows quantum computers may break bitcoin and ether wallet encryption with far fewer qubits than previously thought, accelerating the push toward post-quantum security. What to know : A research paper from Caltech and quantum startup Oratomic found that the cryptography protecting bitcoin and ether wallets could be broken with as few as 10,000 physical qubits, far below earlier estimates of hundreds of thousands. Using Google's quantum circuits as a baseline, the authors say a neutral-atom quantum computer with about 26,000 qubits could crack ECC-256, the standard securing major blockchains, in roughly 10 days, while RSA-2048 would require about 102,000 qubits and three months. The findings, which come with conflicts of interest for the Oratomic-affiliated authors, underscore that the main question now is whether the crypto industry can migrate to quantum-resistant systems before the cost of quantum attacks falls further.(Coindesk)