Latest “quantum computer breaks the math behind Bitcoin” headlines massively exaggerate risk

On Apr. 24, Project Eleven awarded its Q-Day Prize to Giancarlo Lelli, a researcher who used publicly accessible quantum hardware to derive a 15-bit elliptic curve private key from its public key. This is the largest public demonstration to date of the attack class that could one day threaten Bitcoin, Ethereum, and every other system secured by elliptic curve cryptography. The prize was one Bitcoin. The irony is that…