Undertaking Eleven has raised $20 million to construct defenses in opposition to the existential menace that quantum computing poses to cryptocurrencies. The spherical valued the startup at $120 million.
The corporate has acquired backing from main firms since its seed spherical in June 2025, together with crypto-native VC Variant Fund and quantum expertise fund Quantonation.
Undertaking Eleven is making ready for “Q-Day”. That is the theoretical occasion when quantum computer systems turn into highly effective sufficient to interrupt the encryption that protects the web and monetary methods.
Bitcoin, Ethereum, and most main blockchains depend on elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) for private and non-private key technology. A sufficiently highly effective quantum pc working Scholl’s algorithm might theoretically reverse this course of.
This enables an attacker to empty the pockets the place the general public key has been uncovered.
The corporate estimates that roughly $718 billion price of Bitcoin saved in weak wallets was compromised.
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Undertaking Eleven particularly works on the “post-quantum” infrastructure of current blockchains. The corporate’s flagship product, referred to as Yellow Pages, acts as a cryptographic registry that permits customers to signal messages proving they personal a weak Bitcoin tackle and hyperlink it to a quantum-secure identification.
This creates a “fallback” file of possession that can be utilized to recuperate funds if the primary community is compromised.
Is the quantum menace over-exaggerated?
As of right now, the consensus amongst cryptographers, authorities companies, and market analysts is that the upcoming menace of quantum computer systems destroying Bitcoin is overestimated.
Most authoritative opinions agree that the “Q-Day” occasion won’t happen this 12 months (or anytime quickly).
That stated, Ethereum’s Buterin just lately warned that elliptic curve cryptography might find yourself wanting like this: compromised by quantum computing by 2028.
