cd /news/artificial-intelligence/morning-minute-google-clears-a-major… · home › topics › artificial-intelligence › article
[ARTICLE · art-151340] src=decrypt.co ↗ pub= topic=artificial-intelligence verified=true sentiment=· neutral

Morning Minute: Google Clears a Major Quantum Hurdle, Bitcoin Still Safe

Google Quantum AI reduced a critical class of quantum errors roughly 40-fold on its 105-qubit Willow chip, according to a new paper in Science, by filtering injected states through a gauntlet of checks and discarding the 92% that fail so the survivors reach 99.99% fidelity. The result leaves Bitcoin's elliptic curve cryptography safe for now, since breaking an RSA-2048 key requires errors around one in 10 billion — roughly a million times cleaner than Google demonstrated — though a March 2026 Google whitepaper put Bitcoin's elliptic curve cryptography at under 500,000 physical qubits. Ethereum researcher Justin Drake argued the nearer threat is AI-driven mathematics breaking elliptic curves on ordinary hardware in "months not years," and Coinbase, Sui, Ethereum, Zcash and Near are preparing quantum-resistant migrations.

by read5 min views1 publishedOct 16, 2026
Morning Minute: Google Clears a Major Quantum Hurdle, Bitcoin Still Safe
Image: Decrypt (auto-discovered)

Morning Minute is a daily newsletter written by Tyler Warner. The analysis and opinions expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Decrypt. And c**heck out our daily news show 'FOMO HOUR' covering all of the top stories and market action.

GM!

Today’s top news:

  • Crypto majors rebound despite hot PPI; BTC at $82.7k
  • MSCI finalized index rules putting Strategy at risk of removal (MSTR -3%)
  • White House has no crypto lead after Patrick Witt announces departure
  • Binance US tries to raise $100M at $1B valuation
  • Jupiter rolls out Papertrade-like perps product, does $1B volume first day

⚗️Google Clears a Major Quantum Hurdle, Bitcoin Still Safe #

Eight days ago an Ethereum researcher told large holders to move their coins. Today Google published a result that makes him look less paranoid and more early.

Google Quantum AI cut a critical class of quantum errors roughly 40-fold on its Willow chip, per a new paper in Science. The technique attacks what may be quantum computing’s single biggest tax - producing the clean, single-use resources certain operations need, which by some estimates eats up to 95% of a machine’s capacity. Instead of building dedicated qubit factories to purify them, Google filters: inject a rough state, run it through a gauntlet of checks, throw out the 92% that fail. What survives hits 99.99% fidelity.

Nobody is draining wallets with this. Breaking an RSA-2048 key needs errors around one in 10 billion - about a million times cleaner than what Google just showed.

But researchers are moving closely. In 2019, cracking RSA-2048 was estimated to need 20 million noisy qubits. By 2025 that was under one million. A March 2026 Google whitepaper put Bitcoin’s elliptic curve cryptography at under 500,000 physical qubits. Willow has 105.

The irony this week is that Justin Drake’s actual fear wasn’t quantum at all. He thinks AI-driven mathematics breaks elliptic curves first, on ordinary hardware, in “months not years.” His advice: big holders should move funds to fresh addresses that have never signed a transaction, because signing exposes your public key. So crypto is being “attacked” on two fronts: quantum advancement and AI advancement.

With that said, key players are making moves and starting serious preparations. Coinbase spent this week arguing the migration has to start now. Sui is already running quantum-safe transactions on a test network. Ethereum, Zcash and Near all have plans to be quantum-resistant.

Crypto leaders will be prepared. But this was a reminder from Google that the tock is indeed ticking…

🌎 Macro Crypto and Markets #

Corporate Treasuries & ETFs

  • The Bitcoin ETFssaw $5M in net inflows on Thursday; the ETH ETFs saw $60M in outflows Meme Coin Tracker

  • Meme leaders were green up 2-5%; DOGE +3%, SHIB +4%, PEPE +4%, PENGU +4%, TRUMP +4%, SPX -1%, BONK +4%

  • Robinhood chain leaders were green up 10-20%; PONS +9% to $226M; AI +20% at $107M; Cashcat +15% at $115M; HOOKR +30%, Orbio +25% and MEME +30% led top movers

  • Solana top movers included FTR +2000%, 1 +3000%, Dacity +1200% and Bubble +1800%

💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker #

🚚 What is happening in NFTs? #

  • NFT leaders were mostly flat; Punks even at 31 ETH, BAYC -1% at 5.4 ETH, Pudgy even at 2.42 ETH

  • Yield Field Deeds (+14%), Argonauts (+12%) and OTC Desks (+75%) led top movers

Daily Debrief Newsletter #

Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.

Join 72,000+ readers

Add on Google

── more in #artificial-intelligence 4 stories · sorted by recency
── more on @google quantum ai 3 stories trending now
sponsored brought to you by zahid.host 4,200+ EU-deployed projects
reading about agents? ship yours in a single git push.

Run your AI side-project on zahid.host

EU-based hosting, git-push deploys, automatic HTTPS, no cold starts. Free tier with a custom domain — perfect for shipping the agent you just read about.

$git push zahid main
→ Live at https://your-agent.zahid.host ✓
Get free account → Pricing
from €0/mo · no card required
LIVE [news/morning-minute-googl…] indexed:0 read:5min 2026-10-16 · —