A week of AI-assisted coding has brought the estimated GPU cost of preparing a quantum-resistant Bitcoin transaction down to $66 from approximately $320, according to StarkWare, the company that conducted the research.
The earlier $320 figure came from a transaction mined on Bitcoin in August. Preparing it required roughly 3,100 hours of computing time across a fleet of about 100 graphics processors. That $320 represented the computing cost before the transaction reached Bitcoin, separate from the blockchain fee.
StarkWare opened the code to a competition in which participants, many using AI coding tools, worked to make the underlying search process faster. Contest submissions achieved significant speed improvements, with a leading submission checking about 881 million candidates per second compared to roughly 146 million for the starting code on the same graphics processor.
Addressing a Quantum Threat
The work targets a potential future vulnerability to Bitcoin. A sufficiently powerful quantum computer could theoretically use a wallet's exposed public key to derive its private key and steal funds. StarkWare's method adds hash-based protection expected to withstand such attacks and operates within Bitcoin's existing rules, requiring no network upgrade.
This makes the approach an emergency option for moving eligible coins if quantum threats emerge before Bitcoin adopts a broader fix. Lower computational costs could make the method more practical for wider use.
Limitations and Unconfirmed Estimates
The $66 figure remains an estimate derived from computational tests. The improved code has not yet been demonstrated preparing another transaction mined on Bitcoin.
The method also has practical constraints. These transactions must be sent directly to miners because they do not travel through the network in the standard way. Additionally, the approach does not protect coins whose public keys are already exposed—the very group a quantum attacker would target first.
