A new research paper by Google Quantum AI researcher Craig Gidney shows that breaking widely used RSA encryption may require 20 times fewer quantum resources than previously believed. The finding did not specifically mention bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, but took aim at the encryption methods that form the technical backbone used to secure crypto wallets and, in some cases, transactions. RSA is a public-key encryption algorithm used to encrypt and decrypt data. It relies on two different but linked keys: a public key for encryption and a private key for decryption. Bitcoin doesn’t use RSA, but relies on elliptic curve cryptography (ECC). However, ECC can also be broken by Shor’s algorithm, a quantum algorithm designed to factor large numbers or solve logarithm problems — which form the heart of public key cryptography. ECC is a way to lock and unlock digital data using mathematical calculations called curves (which compute only in one direction) instead of big numbers. Think of it as a smaller key that’s just as strong as a larger one.

Full research : A new research paper from a Google researcher slashed the estimated quantum resources needed to break RSA encryption, which is used by some crypto wallets.