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

Google announced the launch of its first quantum chip, Willow, once again sparking concerns about private keys being decrypted to steal user funds.

Bernstein analyst Gautam Chhugani wrote in a report that a chip with 105 qubits is still far from the millions of qubits needed for practical attacks on Bitcoin's Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) and Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA-256).

The analyst said: "Should Bitcoin contributors start preparing for a quantum future? Yes, but any actual threat to Bitcoin seems to require decades."

It is reported that ECDSA is an encryption 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 and plays a crucial role when mining through Bitcoin's proof-of-work mechanism.