Independent Researcher Cracks 15-Bit ECC Key, Wins Bitcoin Reward from Project Eleven

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Gate News message, April 25 — Independent researcher Giancarlo Lelli successfully cracked a 15-bit ECC encryption key protecting Bitcoin and received the Q-Day Award plus 1 BTC from quantum security startup Project Eleven.

Lelli used publicly available quantum hardware and a variant of Shor’s algorithm to break the key among 32,767 possibilities. The breakthrough represents a 512x increase in difficulty compared to the 6-bit key cracked in September 2025. Project Eleven CEO Alex Pruden noted that quantum attack resource requirements continue to decline, with approximately 6.9 million BTC currently held in vulnerable static addresses, including 1 million BTC attributed to Satoshi Nakamoto.

The Bitcoin network has proposed BIP-360 to introduce quantum-resistant address types. Ethereum, Ripple, and Tron have also begun releasing transition plans for post-quantum defense.

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