Chicago Quantum Computing Facility Under Construction Could Threaten Bitcoin Security
PsiQuantum has commenced building its Chicago-based quantum computing facility featuring 1 million qubits, a capacity that scientists believe may be sufficient to compromise Bitcoin's encryption protocols.
PsiQuantum, a leading quantum computing enterprise, has moved closer to achieving its ambition of creating the planet's first commercially viable quantum computer, commencing construction work on a facility designed to accommodate 1 million qubits—a scale that researchers indicate possesses sufficient power to break through Bitcoin's cryptographic defenses.
On Thursday, Peter Shadbolt, who co-founded PsiQuantum, published a photograph of the Chicago construction location via X, revealing that 500 tons of steel had been installed within a six-day period to create the structure that will contain the computer.
In September, PsiQuantum announced securing $1 billion in funding for the facility's development in partnership with semiconductor manufacturer Nvidia, with the design intended to accommodate quantum computing systems that maintain functionality despite encountering errors.
According to PsiQuantum, the facility will accommodate 1 million qubits worth of quantum computational capacity, which equals the processing power of tens of billions of conventional computers, with the objective of transforming quantum computing into a commercially viable technology to enable "next-generation AI supercomputers."
Members of the Bitcoin community have raised concerns that the emergence of quantum computing technology may eventually undermine Bitcoin's cryptographic security.
Certain Bitcoin advocates have contended that such a security breach could endanger the network, which presently safeguards $1.4 trillion in value, whereas others, including Blockstream CEO Adam Back, have maintained that quantum computers will not represent a genuine threat to Bitcoin for a minimum of ten years.
Within the Bitcoin development community, ongoing discussions are taking place regarding whether immediate protective measures against quantum threats should be implemented through a hard fork, and if such action is warranted, what specific changes would be required.
The Bitcoin (BTC) holdings most susceptible to quantum attack are unspent transaction output (UTXO) wallets, meaning coins associated with wallet addresses that have never conducted outgoing transactions, with many of these wallets originating from the cryptocurrency's earliest days.
The precise number of qubits required to compromise Bitcoin keys remains a subject of debate, though estimates continue to decline as quantum computing research progresses.
A preprint scientific paper published last month contended that approximately 100,000 qubits would be necessary to break 2048-bit keys, whereas Bitcoin's encryption relies on 256-bit keys.
The most powerful quantum computer currently in existence, developed by the California Institute of Technology, operates at 6,100 qubits in capacity.
PsiQuantum has no plans to attack Bitcoin
During July, Terry Rudolph, co-founder of PsiQuantum, stated that the organization has no intention of utilizing quantum computers to extract private keys from public keys.
"We do not have plans. You can't hide this stuff as well; it's a company of hundreds of people."
Terry Rudolph at the Presidio Bitcoin-hosted Quantum Bitcoin Summit
Only 10,000 BTC at legitimate risk: CoinShares
Even assuming quantum computers achieve the capability to break Bitcoin's security, research conducted by cryptocurrency asset manager CoinShares in February determined that merely 10,230 Bitcoin is simultaneously quantum-vulnerable and stored in wallet addresses with publicly exposed cryptographic keys.
According to CoinShares, a market selloff involving 10,230 Bitcoin, valued at $728.2 million based on current market prices, would "resemble a routine trade."