Quantum Computing Got 20x Closer. It Threatens A Third of All Bitcoin

Unchained

Laura Shin

Tech News, Business News, News

4.6 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 3 April 2026

⏱️ 69 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Google just set a deadline. Quantum computers could break Bitcoin's encryption by 2029. Are blockchains ready? Sponsored by ⁠Nexo⁠ Nexo is the premier digital wealth platform. Receive interest on your crypto, borrow against it without selling, and trade a range of assets. Now available in the U.S with 30 days of exclusive privileges. Get started at http://nexo.com/unchained Google and Oratomic published quantum computing research on the same day, and together they redraw the timeline for when blockchains need to be post-quantum secure. Google's paper, co-authored by Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake and Stanford cryptographer Dan Boneh, estimates 2029 for breaking the elliptic curve cryptography that protects Bitcoin and Ethereum. Oratomic's findings are sharper: utility-scale quantum computers may need only 10,000 qubits, not the millions previously assumed, and the company already has 6,000 in the lab. With 6.7 million BTC in vulnerable addresses and a newly identified 9-minute attack window on unspent Bitcoin transactions, the question is no longer whether blockchains need to migrate. It's whether they can do it fast enough. Guests: ⁠Alex Pruden, Co-Founder & CEO, Project Eleven ⁠Dolev Bluvstein, CEO of Oratomic Links: Unchained: Q-Day Is Imminent. Can Bitcoin Survive the Quantum Threat? Solana Deploys Post-Quantum Signatures on Testnet Is Nic Carter Exaggerating Bitcoin's Quantum Risk? Yes, Says One Core Dev Research Papers: Google: Securing Elliptic Curve Cryptocurrencies Against Quantum Vulnerabilities Oratomic: Shor's Algorithm with as Few as 10,000 Reconfigurable Atomic Qubits (arXiv) Caltech: Useful Quantum Computers Could Be Built with as Few as 10,000 Qubits Companies & Tools: Project Eleven Project Eleven: Yellow Pages Oratomic BIP 360: Pay-to-Merkle-Root (P2MR) Standards & Infrastructure: NIST Post-Quantum Cryptography Standards Cloudflare: State of the Post-Quantum Internet Google Quantum AI: Willow & Error Correction Algorand: Quantum-Resistant Falcon Signatures Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	US with 30 days of exce.
0:02.0	Hey everyone, welcome to Unchained, your no hype resource for all things Crypto.
0:07.0	I'm your host, Laura Shin. Thanks for joining this live stream.
0:10.0	Before we get started, a quick reminder. Nothing you hear on Unchained is investment advice.
0:14.0	This show is for informational and entertainment purposes only.
0:17.0	And my guest and I may hold assets discussed on the show.
0:20.0	For more disclosures,
0:21.1	visit Unchained Crypto.com. Introducing Nexo, the premier digital wealth platform. Receive interest
0:27.8	on your digital assets. Barrow against them without selling. Trade a variety of cryptocurrencies,
0:34.1	all in one platform. Now available in the U.S.
0:37.5	Get started today at nexo.com slash unchained.
0:44.2	Today's topic is the threat that quantum computing poses to crypto and why it may arrive a lot more quickly than people have been expecting.
0:52.3	Here to discuss are Alex Pruden, co-founder and CEO of
0:55.8	Project 11, and Deleve Bluesteen, CEO of Oratomic. Welcome, Alex and DeLev. It's a pleasure to be here.
1:04.4	It's a great pleasure. So the two big news stories this morning, they are about breakthroughs in quantum computing.
1:12.6	And these likely change the timeline for when crypto and blockchains need to have post-quantum
1:18.2	technology.
1:19.8	And that deadline is now three years away, at least according to this Google paper.
1:23.9	So that's 2029.
1:26.4	Google announced it had published this white paper showing that future
1:28.9	quantum computers could break elliptic curve cryptography, which here's certain crypto assets.
1:35.7	For example, the public keys and Bitcoin and Ethereum. They actually didn't fully describe the
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