[Research Estimates 29,600 Physical Qubits Could Crack Bitcoin Keys in About 1 Hour] According to Odaily Planet Daily, a study by quantum computing company Alice & Bob estimates that a fault-tolerant quantum computer with approximately 29,588 physical qubits could solve the 256-bit elliptic curve cryptography problem used in Bitcoin in about 61.8 minutes. This problem supports the digital signatures used to authorize Bitcoin transactions. The results are theoretical resource estimates and do not represent the capability of existing quantum computers to crack the problem. The study also estimates that 22,593 physical qubits could crack RSA-2048 encryption in about 3.14 days. The calculations employed cat qubits technology designed to reduce quantum errors, combined with more efficient error-correcting codes and improvements to Shor's algorithm. If a sufficiently powerful quantum computer can derive the private key from the publicly available public key, Bitcoin could face the risk of unauthorized signatures and asset theft. The study estimates that the time required to crack the code is still longer than Bitcoin's average block interval of approximately 10 minutes; about 6.9 million bitcoins may be at risk because their corresponding public keys have been made public. (Bitcoin.com News)