AI Coding Reduces Quantum-Resistant Bitcoin Transaction Cost to $66

A team at StarkWare used AI coding to bring down the estimated cost of preparing a quantum-resistant Bitcoin transaction from $320 to $66. This method uses hashes that are expected to withstand attacks by powerful quantum computers, which could potentially steal exposed coins.

The original estimate was based on a transaction mined on Bitcoin in August, which required 3,100 hours of computing time across a fleet of 100 graphics processors. The new code was open-sourced and led to several improvements, including one that checked about 881 million candidates per second, compared to 146 million for the starting code.

The method is an emergency option for moving eligible coins if the quantum threat arrives before Bitcoin adopts a broader fix. However, using it widely would be expensive at $66 per transaction, and it has limits beyond cost. These transactions have to be sent directly to a miner because they do not travel through the network in the usual way, and they do not protect coins whose public keys are already exposed.