Google says its Willow quantum chip has sharply reduced a key category of computing errors, renewing questions about whether future quantum machines could threaten the cryptography protecting Bitcoin and other digital assets. The result is significant for researchers, but it does not mean cryptocurrency wallets can currently be broken.
According to Decrypt, Google Quantum AI reported in a paper published in Science that its method reduced a critical class of quantum errors by roughly 40 times. The approach focuses on producing high-quality quantum states, which are specialized resources required for some quantum calculations.
Rather than relying on separate machines to purify those states, Google’s process tests imperfect inputs repeatedly and discards most of them. The source said about 92% of the states fail the checks, while the states that remain reach 99.99% fidelity. This could address one of the biggest efficiency problems in quantum computing: the large amount of hardware capacity consumed by error correction and preparation.
Why the result matters for crypto
Bitcoin does not depend on RSA encryption. Its transactions use elliptic-curve cryptography, while other widely used systems, including RSA-2048, protect information through different mathematical structures. A sufficiently powerful and reliable quantum computer could eventually challenge some of these systems, raising the possibility that an attacker could derive a private key from an exposed public key.
The latest Google result remains far from that scenario. Decrypt reported that breaking an RSA-2048 key would require error rates of approximately one in 10 billion—around one million times cleaner than the level demonstrated by Google. The Willow chip has 105 physical qubits, whereas a March 2026 Google white paper estimated that attacking Bitcoin’s elliptic-curve cryptography could require fewer than 500,000 physical qubits.
Estimates of the hardware needed have nevertheless fallen considerably. In 2019, the requirement for breaking RSA-2048 was estimated at 20 million noisy qubits. By 2025, that estimate had dropped below one million. Those figures do not show that an attack is imminent, but they explain why security researchers and crypto developers are treating quantum resistance as a preparation issue rather than a purely theoretical concern.
The concern is not limited to quantum hardware. Ethereum researcher Justin Drake has argued that advances in artificial-intelligence-assisted mathematics could threaten elliptic curves on conventional computers sooner than quantum technology does. His precautionary guidance, as reported by Decrypt, is for large holders to move funds to new addresses that have never signed a transaction, because signing can expose a public key.
Crypto networks begin preparing
Several projects are already taking steps toward post-quantum security. Coinbase argued this week that migration planning should begin immediately. Sui is testing quantum-safe transactions on its network, while Ethereum, Zcash and Near have plans to adopt quantum-resistant protections.
The basic challenge is coordination. A transition would require networks, wallets, exchanges and large holders to support new cryptographic methods without disrupting access to existing funds. The Google result does not set a deadline for such a migration, but it has added urgency to an issue that could take years to manage across global, open blockchain systems.
For Bitcoin users, the distinction between exposed and unexposed public keys is important background. A transaction reveals information associated with the signing process, while funds held at an address that has never signed have a different exposure profile under the risk described by researchers. The source material did not report any current wallet drain or successful attack.
Market picture
Crypto markets were recovering in the source report despite stronger-than-expected producer-price data. Bitcoin was described there as up 1% at $82,700, with Ether up 4% at $2,480 and Solana up 4% at $107. Zcash was among the stronger major tokens, rising 12% to $1,240.
Moneyiar market data at 9:54 p.m. Tehran time on October 17, 2026, showed Bitcoin at $81,061.98, down 0.65% over 24 hours and 2.31% over seven days. Quant was at $193.18, down 4.55% in 24 hours and 19.53% over seven days. Safe stood at $0.10596, down 5.41% over 24 hours and 8.91% over seven days, while Holo was priced at $0.0003666, down 3.56% and 13.41% over those periods.
Other market developments reported alongside the quantum story included finalized MSCI rules that could put Strategy at risk of removal from global indexes, and the departure of White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt, leaving the administration without a crypto lead for the first time since President Donald Trump took office. Binance US was also seeking as much as $100 million at a reported $1 billion valuation.
Google’s advance therefore arrives in a market focused on immediate price movements, but its longer-term significance is about infrastructure. Quantum computers are not yet capable of breaking Bitcoin’s cryptography. Still, falling estimates for the required hardware and parallel concerns about artificial intelligence are pushing major blockchain projects to consider how—and when—to replace today’s security systems.
