What is the Q-Day prize?
The Q-Day Prize is a challenge to make the Bitcoin network quantum resistant.
On April 16, 2025, quantum computing-focused company Project 11 announced the “Q-Day Prize,” a competition to break a “toy version” of Bitcoin’s cryptography with a quantum computer. Contestants must complete the Q-Day Prize challenge by April 5, 2026.
Their reward? 1 Bitcoin (BTC).
The “Q” in Q-Day refers to quantum computing, the potential threat to many existing cryptographic security measures.
But can quantum computers break Bitcoin? Let’s find out.
Quantum computing and the threat to Bitcoin
Bitcoin utilizes the SHA-256 hashing algorithm, a National Security Agency (NSA)-developed encryption algorithm. SHA-256 prevents brute force attacks against the Bitcoin network, as decrypting it with current hardware can take decades. However, the emerging threat to SHA-256 is quantum computing, a method of computing that harnesses quantum physics and is much faster than traditional