Bernstein: Despite Google's launch of the Willow chip, the quantum threat to Bitcoin still needs decades to materialize

ChainCatcher news, Google has announced the launch of its first quantum chip, Willow, raising concerns about the potential decryption of private keys to steal user funds.

Bernstein analyst Gautam Chhugani wrote in a report that the 105-qubit chip is still far from the millions of qubits needed to actually attack the Bitcoin Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) and the Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA-256).

The analyst stated, "Should Bitcoin contributors start preparing for a quantum future? Yes, but any actual threat to Bitcoin seems to be decades away."

It is reported that ECDSA is a cryptographic algorithm used to protect private keys and enable digital signatures for Bitcoin transactions. SHA-256 ensures the integrity of the Bitcoin ledger by hashing transaction data, playing a crucial role in the mining process through Bitcoin's proof-of-work mechanism.