Google’s Quantum Breakthrough Puts Bitcoin in Trouble? Analyst Says Not Today, but ‘Gap Is Getting Smaller’
Market research platform Bull Theory said on Thursday that quantum-computing progress has narrowed Bitcoin’s long-term security gap, but no existing machine can currently threaten the network.‘Key Bottleneck’ Removed?In an X post, Bull Theory reacted to Alphabet Inc. -owned Google’s latest research on in quantum computing, i.e., magic states, which typically consume 95% of a quantum computer’s capacity.Google said its new technique reduces error rates by a factor of 40 while achieving 99.9% accuracy, though it still needs to be demonstrated at a larger scale.Is Bitcoin in trouble after Google's latest quantum computing breakthrough?Short answer: not today. But the gap is getting smaller.Google's new result makes one of the hardest parts of a quantum computer cheaper to build. That part is called "magic states."Breaking… ‘Bitcoin Is Not In Trouble Today’Bull Theory noted that Google Quantum AI’s March white paper estimated that b—the basic unit of information in a quantum computerBull Theory added that Google’s announced in December 2024, has 105 qubits, while International Business Machines Corp. reported 70 logical qubits and QuEra Computing Inc. has executed algorithms with up to 96 logical qubits.Notably, hardware roadmaps show IBM targeting 200 logical qubits by 2029 and 2,000 by 2033.“So Bitcoin is not in trouble today. No machine is close to doing this,” Bull Theory argued. “But the gap is getting smaller.” Read Also: Prediction Markets In ConsensusFor Bitcoin, quantum computing poses a theoretical risk: private keys could be derived from exposed public keys in 9 minutes, according to Google, opening a pathway for unauthorized access to funds.An estimated is currently held in quantum-vulnerable addresses. The community hasn’t arrived at a consensus on what to do with these coins.Jameson Lopp, co-founder and chief security officer at self-custody platform firm Casa, told Benzinga that it could take at least another decade before a quantum computer, powerful enough to decode a Bitcoin public key to find its corresponding private key, becomes a reality.Meanwhile, bettors on Polygon (CRYPTO: POL)-based Polymarket currently assign only a 1% chance of this possibility by year-end, and 11% by the end of 2027.Price Action: As of this writing, BTC is up 1.50% in the last 24 hours to $82,058.35, according to Benzinga Pro. Read Also: Watch $77,000 for Bitcoin Bull Market Confirmation, Crypto Expert Says Photo: Hi my name is Jacco on Shutterstock.com