Researchers from the University of Sussex in the UK estimate that quantum systems containing 13 million qubits will be enough to crack the cryptographic algorithm (SHA-256) that protects the Bitcoin blockchain. The security breach process will take no more than 24 hours.

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While modern quantum computers don’t even come close to that level of performance (the current record is a relatively insignificant 127 qubits), scientists say significant advances over the next 10 years could create sufficiently powerful quantum machines.

crack bitcoin algorithm

The ability to crack the encryption protecting the Bitcoin network would allow an attacker to hijack transactions and forward the coins to their own wallet. In this hypothetical scenario, the cryptocurrency market will surely collapse. Such an attack means that the network is no longer secure.

For now, however, cryptocurrency enthusiasts can rest assured knowing that cracking the SHA-256 algorithm is impossible on current machines. But will it stay like this forever? According to scientists – no.

Manufactured by IBM, it is the most powerful quantum system currently, and is described as the first system whose performance cannot be reliably re-engineered with a classical computer, but is still far from the 13 million qubits required to hack Bitcoin.

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However, extensive research is underway in all aspects of quantum computing, which is being conducted by nearly all of the world’s largest technology companies. Much work is being done to increase the number of qubits in a quantum processor, but scientists are also exploring possibilities for qubit design, pairing quantum and classical computing, new cooling technologies and more.

On the other hand, developers working on the Bitcoin network will almost certainly respond in time. Bitcoin will then move to a new, secure quantum encryption method, long before a sufficiently efficient quantum computer is developed.

However, the research raises an important point regarding the longevity of cryptographic techniques.

As Mark Webber, the lead researcher on the project, noted that advances in quantum computing will render modern cryptography redundant, it would be a mistake to assume that information encrypted today will remain secure tomorrow.

“People are really worried because you can now save encrypted messages and decrypt them in the future,” Weber said. “There is a big problem: we urgently need to change our encryption technologies because they will not be secure in the future.”