Project 11 has launched a competition where people can win 1 BTC if they break Bitcoin’s Elliptic Curve cryptography and an ECC key using a quantum computer with Shor’s algorithm. The aim is to break the biggest ECC key possible.
According to them, 6 million BTC in over 10 million addresses are possibly vulnerable to quantum computers because of their exposed public keys. That's a value of over $500 billion. The aim of the initiative is to test how serious of a threat quantum computers present.
Project 11 believes that quantum computers will break Bitcoin's 256-bit keys sooner or later. Participants don't have to go that far. The company believes that breaking a 5-bit key is already a significant breakthrough.
Competition Rules:
- Individuals and teams can sign up. No institutional affiliation is needed.
- Participants need to find out how to run Shor's algorithm on current quantum hardware and demonstrate scaling capabilities to 256-bit keys.
- Project 11 has prepared sets of ECC keys from 1 to 25 bits of security. Participants will need to target these key lengths and demonstrate that their methods can crack the provided x-bit key.
- Submit your entries. Participants can include the code, instructions used with the quantum program, a description of their approach, techniques used, and the specs of the used quantum computer.
The deadline to make the submissions is 5 April 2026. All submissions will be shared publicly.
Those interested in participating can sign up here:
https://www.qdayprize.org/registerWhat do you think, what key length will these white hats be able to crack?
Sources and further reading:
https://www.qdayprize.org/https://x.com/qdayclock/status/1912534686569755044