Google said it has achieved a verifiable “quantum advantage” with its Willow chip that accomplishes a calculation that would take classical supercomputers thousands of times longer.
The reported success could reignite a debate in the cryptocurrency community over the potentially harmful effects of quantum computing on Bitcoin, whose operation and security are built on cryptographic methods that quantum computing could potentially challenge.
The chip reportedly simulated quantum chaos in just two hours by measuring out-of-time-order correlators (OTOCs), a key benchmark for tracking the unpredictable behavior of particles.
The researchers say the achievement moves quantum computing closer to practical applications such as Hamiltonian learning, where quantum machines could help model complex molecular structures beyond the reach of today’s tools.
For the crypto world, the success is notable but not worrisome. While quantum computing could one day challenge Bitcoin’s cryptographic foundation, most experts say that reality is still a long way off.
“There is no evidence today that any computer, even classified computers, can break modern cryptography,” Costas Kryptos Chalkias, co-founder and chief cryptographer of Myst Labs, told CoinDesk in a recent interview. “We’re at least 10 years away from that.”
Shares of Google’s parent company Alphabet (GOOG) jumped 1.5% after the publication of its research, then returned to their previous levels. At the time of writing, GOOG is just above $253, up 0.7% on the day.
Bitcoin GOOG experienced modest growth concurrently, climbing 0.7% to just under $109,000. At the time of writing, BTC is down 4% over the past 24 hours at around $108,150, according to CoinDesk data.