Quantum computers need vastly fewer resources than thought to break vital encryption

Recent whitepapers have shown that building a quantum computer capable of breaking 256-bit elliptic-curve cryptography (ECC) requires significantly fewer resources than previously estimated. One paper demonstrated the use of neutral atoms as reconfigurable qubits, reducing overhead by 100 times and breaking ECC in just 10 days. Another paper by Google researchers showcased breaking ECC-securing blockchains in under nine minutes with a 20-fold resource reduction. These advancements indicate progress in cryptographically relevant quantum computing (CRQC), driven by new quantum architectures and efficient algorithms like Shor's algorithm. While no hard date for practical CRQC has been set, the research community is steadily moving towards achieving this goal.