Bitcoin quantum threat is real and closer than it looks, says Nobel physicist
Former Google quantum hardware leader and winner of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics, Dr. John Martinis, warns that breaking encryption will be among the earliest uses of quantum computing
What to know:
- John M. Martinis, a Nobel Prize–winning physicist who helped build Google’s quantum computers, warns that Bitcoin could be among the earliest real-world targets of quantum attacks.
- A recent Google paper he endorses shows how a sufficiently advanced quantum computer could derive a bitcoin private key from its public key in minutes, exploiting the brief window when a transaction’s public key is exposed.
- While Martinis believes building such powerful quantum machines may take five to ten years and remains a major engineering challenge, he says the bitcoin community must start planning now for quantum-resistant upgrades despite the network’s slow, decentralized governance.
“I think it’s a very well-written paper. It lays out where we are right now,” Martinis said, referring to Google’s latest work on quantum threats to cryptography. “It’s not something that has zero probability; people have to deal with this.”
READ: A simple explainer on what quantum computing actually is, and why it is terrifying for bitcoin
The Google paper outlines how a sufficiently advanced quantum computer could derive a bitcoin private key from its public key, potentially within minutes, dramatically reducing the computational barrier that currently secures the network, Martinis highlighted, adding this is one of the issues that must be taken most seriously..
READ: Here’s what ‘cracking’ bitcoin in 9 minutes by quantum computers actually means
While the idea of quantum computers breaking encryption is often framed as distant or theoretical, Martinis said one of the first practical applications may be far more immediate.
