Quantum computing Project Eleven raised $6 million to develop tools like Yellowpages that aim to secure Bitcoin against quantum attacks. The funding round was co-led by leading Web3 investor Variant Fund and quantum tech investor Quantonation. This is the first investment of Quantonation in the crypto space. The funding will allow the company to build the tools, standards and ecosystem required to ensure all digital assets remain secure in a post-quantum world. There are currently 10,095,693 Bitcoin addresses with a non-zero balance and an exposed public key, putting more than 6M BTC (worth about $648 billion) at risk of a potential quantum attack. The company’s first release is a cryptographic registry called Yellowpages. It is designed to let users create a quantum-resistant proof links between their current Bitcoin addresses and new, secure ones, without relying on blockchain activity. The registry will act as a backup in the event that quantum computers compromise existing Bitcoin keys. Yellowpages was audited by Cure 53 and the company will post the audit results shortly. Project Eleven has also opened discussions with Bitcoin Core developers about potential future upgrades.

The quantum threat to Bitcoin is a controversial topic, with some arguing that it is a theoretical threat that require dedicated resources. Still, the risk is taken seriously by many. The US National Security Agency intends that all National Security Systems will be quantum-resistant by 2035. Under those plans, new acquisitions will require quantum-resistant encryption by 2027, and legacy gear will be phased out in 2030–2031. The US National Institute of Standards and Technology also stated in 2024 that its goal is achieving widespread post-quantum cryptography adoption by 2035. US nonprofit and global policy research institute and public sector consulting firm Rand conducted an expert survey on the subject in 2020. The report estimated that the average time when a cryptography-breaking quantum computer emerges is 2033, but noted that earlier developments are possible, with the range starting from 2027. A study released by Google in May reduced the requirement to break RSA-2048 from 20 million to about 1 million noisy qubits running for one week. It is still beyond today’s capabilities, which hover around a few hundred stable qubits.