# Quantum Hacker Gets Closer Than Ever to Breaking Bitcoin, Wins 1 BTC Bounty

*Author: Jack Inabinet*
*Published: Apr 24, 2026*
*Source: https://www.bankless.com/es/read/news/quantum-hacker-gets-closer-than-ever-to-breaking-bitcoin*

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Independent cryptography researcher Giancarlo Lelli has derived a 15-bit elliptic curve key via a publicly accessible quantum computer, winning a 1 BTC bounty from post-quantum startup Project Eleven in the process.

### What's the Scoop?
- **Largest Attack:** Researcher Giancarlo Lelli has won Project Eleven’s 1 BTC “Q-Day Prize” after successfully deriving a 15-bit elliptic curve private key from a public key using a publicly accessible quantum computer. In its blog post announcing the hack, Project Eleven [described](https://blog.projecteleven.com/posts/project-eleven-awards-1-btc-q-day-prize-for-largest-quantum-attack-on-elliptic-curve-cryptography-to-date) it as, "the largest public demonstration to date of the attack class that threatens Bitcoin, Ethereum, and over $2.5 trillion in ECC-secured digital assets."
- **Major Leap:** According to Project Eleven, quantum attacks on elliptic curve cryptography has moved from theory to practice over the last seven months. Compared to Steve Tippeconnic's 6-bit [demonstration](https://superpositions.com/t/i-broke-a-6-bit-ecc-key-with-a-quantum-computer-ask-me-anything-steve-tippeconnic/93) in September 2025 (the first public break on quantum hardware), this most recent 15-bit cryptography crack represents a 512× improvement.
- **Not Practical:** Bitcoin uses 256-bit elliptic curve cryptography to anchor its signature schemes, which is in a completly different universe of security than than the 15-bit key broken in this demonstration. While a 15-bit key has 215 (32,768) possibilities, a 256-bit key would has 2256 (~1.16×1077) possibilities, making Bitcoin's encryption scheme ~2.2×10⁷² times harder to crack (220,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000).

> Project Eleven Awards 1 BTC Q-Day Prize for Largest Quantum Attack on Elliptic Curve Cryptography to DateResearcher breaks 15-bit ECC key on publicly accessible quantum hardware in a 512x jump from the previous public demonstration.Project Eleven today awarded the Q-Day…— Project Eleven (@projecteleven) [April 24, 2026](https://twitter.com/projecteleven/status/2047661990605156796?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
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