Google's Quantum AI Team Highlights Cryptography Vulnerability in Bitcoin and Ethereum

Google's Quantum AI team has released a new whitepaper indicating that breaking the cryptography used by Bitcoin and Ethereum may require fewer than 500,000 physical qubits, a figure significantly lower than the millions often cited in recent years. According to NS3.AI, Google researchers suggest that a prepared attacker could complete the final step in approximately nine minutes after a Bitcoin public key appears in a live transaction, compared to the roughly 10 minutes needed for confirmation. The researchers also pointed out that Taproot, a Bitcoin upgrade, may increase exposure because it makes public keys visible by default. The paper estimates that approximately 6.9 million Bitcoin are stored in wallets with exposed public keys, potentially heightening vulnerability to quantum attacks.