arbaloch99.tk@gmail.com
Recently, Project Eleven (Quantum Computing Research Group) announced 1 Bitcoin reward for the first team that can complete a challenge to destroy the ECC (Elliptic Curve Cryptograph) key using Shor’s algorithm on quantum computers.
The deadline for this assignment is April 5, 2026. In other words, in order to qualify for the award, the team must demonstrate that they will break the important pairs that must be made before that deadline.
This is, frankly, a completely absurd and meaningless award for a number of reasons. The first reason is that the deadline is just under a year from today. Even very optimistic predictions about quantum computing progress have put a timeline that effectively achieves such goals, like five to ten years. Even if you consider Quantum Computing a material threat in the short term, expecting a viable proof of concept that actually breaks Keypair in one year is pretty hilarious at face value.
Next is the factors that contribute to economic incentives. Currently, a single Bitcoin is worth around $80,000. That’s frankly not much money in a grand plan of things. Especially when it comes to the application of cutting-edge technologies such as quantum computing, which allow the entire class of classes to be executed exponentially than classical computers. Imagine how valuable you can do with a work quantum computer.
Regardless of TLS, you can eavesdrop on your internet connection, destroy secure connections to your banks, break stock brokers, and private company networks that do not use post-Quantum encryption. It can break all private messenger applications on the planet and decrypt PGP encrypted messages sent via email knowing the public key. It can break the entire hierarchy of certificate authority in a DNS system, and impersonate the server in the world that users are trying to connect to.
All of these are immeasurable worth more than just $84,000. Will some people publicly reveal the fact that people using Quantum Computer claim a single bitcoin when they have access to all the other things they can do?
Now, let’s put all these possibilities aside and pretend that aside Bitcoin, the whole world magically moves to post-Quantum encryption. that still If you have a functional quantum computer, it doesn’t make sense to try and publicly request this award.
Let’s assume you have a quantum computer that is barely capable of performing well. I think it takes quite a while to crack a single key. How many bare public keys are there to protect 50 BTC outputs from the first mining epoch? Thousands of them. Why the hell do you break it, then tell everyone to publicly assert it Single Bitcoin? You will try to crack as many early Coinbase rewards as possible before people detect you.
Finally, in itself, the timetable is just ridiculous. Nowadays, quantum computers can’t even consider primes that people can mentally make in their own heads. In a year, will the technology then break the bitcoin key? That’s ridiculous.
So, except for a few publicity stunts, what is the point of this award? No matter how worried or indifferent you may be about the time frame of quantum computers as a threat, it makes no sense at all as a serious bounty to serve as a canary in our coal mine.
This bounty is a joke.
This article is a take. The opinions expressed are entirely the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.
