Michael Saylor Labels Quantum Threat Bitcoin As Hype

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Bitcoin bull Michael Saylor has downplayed concerns over quantum computing’s impact on Bitcoin, calling it a marketing ploy to pump quantum-branded tokens. 

“It’s mainly marketing from people that want to sell you the next quantum yo-yo token,” Strategy’s executive chairman said in a June 6 interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

Quantum computing’s potential impact on Bitcoin has been labeled as a significant threat to Bitcoin’s security.

According to the quantum computing research firm Project Eleven, 10 million Bitcoin addresses have exposed public keys and more than 6 million Bitcoin could be at risk if the machines become powerful enough to crack Bitcoin elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) keys.

But even if a legitimate quantum computing threat emerged from a tech giant, they wouldn’t release it as doing so could put their businesses and even the US government at risk, Saylor said.

“Google and Microsoft aren’t going to sell you a computer that cracks modern cryptography because it would destroy Google and Microsoft and the US Government and the banking system.”

Bitcoin would just need to be upgraded, Saylor says

If a legitimate quantum computer did come along and threaten Bitcoin’s security, the protocol’s core developers and hardware manufacturers would implement a fix, Saylor said:

“The answer is: Bitcoin network hardware upgrade, Bitcoin network software upgrade, just like Microsoft, Google, the US government upgrade.

“We’re just going to upgrade the software.”

Related: Can quantum computers really break Bitcoin?

Saylor added that it is 10,000 times more likely that someone would lose their Bitcoin to a phishing attack than to quantum computing.

“It’s the hardest thing in the universe to hack,” said Saylor, adding: “They will hack your banking system, your Google account, your Microsoft account, and every other asset you have much sooner because they’re an order of magnitude weaker.”

Quantum’s threat to Bitcoin is already being put to the test

Project Eleven launched a competition in April to see who can crack the biggest chunk of a Bitcoin key using a quantum computer over the next year.

Project Eleven said the purpose of the “Q-Day Prize” is to test “how urgent the threat” of quantum is to Bitcoin and to find quantum-proof solutions to secure Bitcoin over the long term.

Source: Cointelegraph

IBM, Google’s quantum computers are still way off threatening Bitcoin 

Current estimates suggest that around 2,000 logical qubits (error-corrected) would be enough to break a full, 256-bit ECC Bitcoin key, Project Eleven noted.

IBM’s Heron chip and Google’s Willow can currently do 156 and 105 qubits — far off causing any real threat to Bitcoin, but significant enough to cause concern, Project Eleven said.

Magazine: Bitcoin vs. the quantum computer threat: Timeline and solutions (2025–2035)