Bitcoin would need over 300 days of downtime to adequately defend itself from the 'imminent' threat of quantum computing, research finds

A man has his head down at a cryptocurrency exchange store booth in Hong Kong, China. (Credit: Paul Yeung/Bloomberg—Getty Images)

• Advancements in quantum computing, such as Google’s Willow chip, pose a threat to today’s means of encryption, University of Kent lecturer Carlos Perez-Delgado argued. For Bitcoin, protecting itself against a future attack would be time-consuming and costly. “If I had a large quantum computer right now, I could essentially take over all the Bitcoin,” he said.

Bitcoin’s record high value of more than $106,000 is under threat by ever-evolving quantum computing that could undo its foundational encryption, some computational science experts say. If the cryptocurrency wants to avoid an attack that would overhaul its means of protecting transactions, it would need to undergo a costly—and time-consuming—update process that could take nearly a year, according to new research.