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Bitcoin Security Consortium backs $15 million quantum defense effort
The group says quantum computing is its first focus to address potential vulnerabilities in Bitcoin’s elliptic-curve signatures, after research lowered estimates of the resources that could be needed for future attacks.
BlackRock, Coinbase, and Strategy are among the founding members of a newly announced Bitcoin Security Consortium that plans to back a $15 million quantum defense effort aimed at strengthening the network’s long-term security, CryptoSlate reported. The consortium, announced July 23, includes nine founding members, bringing together asset managers, custodians, exchanges, infrastructure providers, and companies tied to Bitcoin.
The consortium’s first focus is quantum computing, amid growing attention on cryptographic systems that could become vulnerable as the technology advances. Bitcoin uses elliptic-curve cryptography to create digital signatures that prove control of the private key needed to spend coins, and the report notes that conventional computers cannot feasibly reverse that relationship.
CryptoSlate also highlighted the theoretical risk from a sufficiently powerful quantum computer running Shor’s algorithm, which could derive a private key from its corresponding public key. Because Bitcoin’s public keys are already visible on the blockchain, researchers and developers are working to understand what changes or preparations could be required over time, as no cryptographically relevant quantum computer capable of breaking Bitcoin’s signatures is known to exist today.
The article cited Dune Analytics data showing more than 7 million BTC in outputs with exposed public keys, representing about 34.9% of the supply covered by its analysis, with those holdings worth roughly $460.8 billion at recent prices. It also said the amount classified as exposed increased by about 77,275 BTC during the most recent complete month, underscoring the scale of key exposure the consortium is trying to plan for.
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