StarkWare: Quantum-Safe BTC Transaction Cost Estimates Can Drop to $66, Cutting Costs by Approximately 79%

According to TechFlow, on September 24, CoinDesk reported that StarkWare announced the estimated GPU computing cost required to prepare a quantum-resistant Bitcoin transaction has dropped from approximately $320 to $66 (a reduction of roughly 79%). Previously, the relevant transaction was mined on the Bitcoin network in August, with the preparation phase utilizing around 100 GPUs and accumulating approximately 3,100 hours of computing time. The $320 figure refers solely to the pre-on-chain computing costs and does not include Bitcoin network fees.

However, the $66 amount currently remains an estimate based on test results, and the optimized code has not yet been validated on another actually mined Bitcoin transaction. The proposed solution aims to mitigate the risk of future quantum computers deriving private keys from public keys to steal bitcoins, serving as a stopgap measure before Bitcoin implements broader quantum-security protocols. It still carries limitations, however, including the requirement that such transactions must be sent directly to miners rather than propagated normally through the Bitcoin network, and its inability to protect wallets whose public keys have already been exposed.