Google Quantum AI team: It is recommended to complete the post-quantum cryptography migration before 2029, as the quantum resources required to break elliptic curve cryptography are significantly lower.

Gate News message, on March 31, Google’s Quantum AI team released a white paper stating that future cryptography-related quantum computers (CRQC) will require fewer quantum resources than previously expected to break the elliptic-curve cryptography (ECC) currently widely used for encrypting cryptocurrencies. The white paper shows that the research team compiled two quantum circuits targeting the 256-bit elliptic-curve discrete logarithm problem (ECDLP-256): Scheme 1 uses fewer than 1,200 logical qubits and 90 million Toffoli gates, while Scheme 2 uses fewer than 1,450 logical qubits and 70 million Toffoli gates. Estimates indicate that the above circuits can complete the computation in a matter of minutes on superconducting quantum computers with fewer than 500,000 physical qubits, which is about 20 times fewer physical qubits than previously required. Google previously published a migration timeline for 2029, urging the cryptocurrency community to migrate the blockchain to post-quantum cryptography (PQC) before this deadline, and calling for avoiding exposure or reusing wallet addresses that may have vulnerabilities.