TechCapsules

AI-summarised brief · reviewed before publication

An open optimization challenge has slashed the GPU cost of creating a quantum‑safe Bitcoin transaction from about $320 to roughly $67 in one week. Developers boosted RTX 4090 throughput from 146 million to over 820 million verified candidates per second and increased subset‑selection speed tenfold. The effort, led by 23 solvers on the pinning track and 17 on subset selection, builds on prior records and uses tools such as Opus 5, Fable 5.1, GPT‑6 Astra and others. Faster code reduces the brute‑force hash search that underlies quantum‑safe constructions, cutting required GPU‑hours. Although the transaction remains nonstandard, requires direct miner submission, and only protects unexposed public keys, the lower cost brings practical use closer. StarkWare still favors a soft fork for comprehensive quantum security long term.