Quantum Computers Could Potentially Crack Bitcoin in Less Than 10 Minutes, Google Warns
Google researchers have issued a stark warning to the cryptocurrency industry: future quantum computers may be able to break Bitcoin’s encryption with far fewer resources than previously estimated, potentially in as little as nine minutes once a transaction’s public key is exposed.
In a whitepaper published on March 30, 2026, Google’s Quantum AI team revealed that cracking the cryptography protecting Bitcoin and Ethereum could require fewer than 500,000 physical quantum bits (qubits), approximately 20 times less than the millions of qubits cited in earlier estimates. The researchers estimate that about 6.9 million bitcoin—roughly one-third of the total supply—already sit in wallets where public keys have been exposed, making them vulnerable to future quantum attacks.
The research focuses on the 256-bit elliptic curve discrete logarithm problem (ECDLP-256), which serves as the backbone for digital signatures used across cryptocurrencies. Google has set a 2029 target for migration to post-quantum cryptography and is urging the cryptocurrency community to accelerate their transition to quantum-resistant security standards.
The findings have triggered urgent responses from blockchain developers. Ethereum has already launched an extensive post-quantum migration effort, while Bitcoin community members are pushing to strengthen initiatives like BIP 360, a proposal for quantum-resistant wallet formats. The timeline for cryptographically relevant quantum computers now appears closer than many industry experts had anticipated.
Source: Coindesk