Key facts
- The estimated cost to build a quantum-safe Bitcoin transaction fell from $320 to $67 in a week.
- AI models like Anthropic's Opus 5 and Fable 5.1, along with OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra, Grok 4.6, and Kimi, led the optimization efforts.
- The cost reduction is due to faster code optimizing the brute-force search performed on user GPUs.
- The initial quantum-safe Bitcoin transaction cost $320 and took 3,100 GPU-hours to construct.
- StarkWare cautioned that the $67 figure is an estimate and the work does not make Bitcoin fully quantum-safe on its own.
The estimated cost to construct a quantum-safe Bitcoin transaction has plummeted by nearly 80% in just one week, falling from approximately $320 to around $67. This dramatic reduction is the result of developers and advanced AI models competing in StarkWare's Quantum-Safe Bitcoin Optimization Challenge to streamline the code required for such transactions.
The initial quantum-safe Bitcoin transaction, developed by StarkWare to protect coins without a network-wide fork, required about 3,100 GPU-hours and cost $320 to build. The recent competition significantly cut down this requirement. The savings stem from optimizing the brute-force search that occurs on a user's GPU before data hits the blockchain. This process involves hashing inputs repeatedly until a valid output shape is found, and faster code means fewer GPU-hours are needed.
Solvers demonstrated substantial progress, with a core benchmark increasing from 146 million verified candidates per second to over 820 million on a standard RTX 4090 graphics card. Notably, developers utilizing AI models, specifically Anthropic's Opus 5 and Fable 5.1, achieved the leading records, with OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra, Grok 4.6, and Kimi also performing strongly.
StarkWare emphasized that the $67 figure is an estimate based on specific hardware assumptions and not a fixed market price, as records continue to be broken. The company also clarified that this work alone does not render Bitcoin fully quantum-safe. The transactions are non-standard, requiring direct delivery to miners, and only protect coins whose public keys have not yet been exposed. StarkWare maintains that a soft fork remains the preferred long-term solution for network-wide quantum resistance. This development occurs amidst growing concerns about Bitcoin's vulnerability to quantum computers, with firms like Coinbase already preparing for a post-quantum era.