Google's quantum AI team research indicates that the quantum computing power required to break Bitcoin is far lower than expected, potentially less than 500,000 qubits. Research simulations show that hackers could intercept ongoing Bitcoin transactions within 9 minutes, and that about one-third of the Bitcoin is stored in already exposed wallets, increasing the risk of quantum attacks. While Bitcoin's Taproot upgrade strengthens privacy, it also increases the exposure of public keys, raising the risk to assets.

Google research shows that the number of qubits required to break Bitcoin could be lower than 500,000—far below expectations—which puts about 9.0 million BTC at potential risk. Quantum computers can intercept transactions within “9 minutes,” and especially after the Taproot upgrade, many wallets are exposed to attack risk. This serves as a reminder that the crypto industry needs to guard against quantum threats as soon as possible.

Google’s quantum AI team research indicates that the quantum computing power needed to break Bitcoin is far lower than expected, possibly less than 500,000 qubits. Research simulations show that hackers can intercept ongoing Bitcoin transactions within 9 minutes, and that about one-third of Bitcoin is stored in wallets that have already been exposed, increasing the risk of quantum attacks. While Bitcoin’s Taproot upgrade strengthens privacy, it also exposes public keys, increasing asset risk.

Google’s Quantum AI team published research on March 30, 2026 indicating that breaking Bitcoin and Ethereum’s elliptic curve cryptography may require fewer than 500,000 physical qubits and approximately 1,200 to 1,450 high-quality logical qubits, significantly lower than previous estimates in the millions.

Breaking Bitcoin's blockchain with quantum computers may not be as difficult as once thought, and Bitcoin’s Taproot technology, which enables more efficient, private transactions, may be partly to blame, Google's Quantum AI team said Monday in a blog post and newly published whitepaper. The team s

BTQ Technologies announced the completion of the deployment of BIP 360 technology on the Bitcoin quantum test network, aimed at defending against potential threats of quantum computing to Bitcoin. BIP 360 introduces a new output type, P2MR, which improves the public key exposure risk associated with Taproot. Currently, only certain exposed wallets are vulnerable to quantum threats, but BIP 360 still requires further support from the community to become an official proposal. Its future development is worth paying attention to.

BTQ Technologies announced the successful deployment of BIP 360 on the Bitcoin Quantum Testnet, addressing quantum vulnerabilities in Taproot by using a new output type P2MR to prevent public key exposure. The testnet has attracted 50 miners and features complete validation capabilities. While quantum threats currently have limited impact on Bitcoin's overall security, approximately 7 million bitcoins are within the risk range. BIP 360 is still in draft stage and requires careful review before mainnet implementation.

The Taproot upgrade serves as one of the top technological improvements for the Bitcoin ecosystem. Activated on the 14th of November 2021, the upgrade aims to boost functionality, efficiency, and privacy without disrupting Bitcoin’s core principles. By merging multiple innovations, such as Schnorr s

Slovak Bitcoin developer Martin Habovštiak published a proof-of-concept on March 1, 2026, embedding a 66-kilobyte TIFF image file contiguously in the Bitcoin blockchain as a single transaction without using OP_RETURN, Taproot, or OP_IF opcodes.

Bitcoin’s market cap has surpassed $2 trillion, but around 61% of BTC hasn’t moved in over a year, and nearly 14% has remained untouched for more than a decade. However, technological breakthroughs in the past two years are fundamentally changing this landscape. The Taproot upgrade, the BitVM validation model, and the emergence of native Bitcoin assets and staking systems are, for the first time, enabling holders to earn yield on BTC and participate in the DeFi ecosystem without relying on custodians or wrapped tokens.