Bitcoin Quantum Threat Inches Closer as IBM Claims 'Trusted Quantum Advantage'
IBM says it has demonstrated “trusted quantum advantage,” claiming a quantum computer performed a computation that leading classical simulation methods cannot practically match, while also providing evidence the result was accurate. Working with the University of Chicago, IBM used a new error-correction approach to encode 70 logical qubits, run 2,415 logical two-qubit operations and 468 logical T gates, and reduce logical error rates to about one-tenth of the physical error rate. The computation took about 15 minutes. A key feature was verification: instead of random circuit sampling, IBM used a structured method that can detect errors during computation while keeping the problem hard for classical systems. IBM presents this as a step toward fault-tolerant quantum computers under its Starling roadmap, which targets a large-scale system by 2029. The advance does not materially change Bitcoin’s near-term security. Breaking Bitcoin’s elliptic-curve signatures would likely require thousands of logical qubits, far beyond this demonstration.
