Shocking,” “Revealed,” “Secret,” “Race,” “Quantum,” “Bitcoin,” “Hackers,” “Crack

Dr. Ben Goertzel, head of the Artificial Superintelligence (ASI) Alliance, claims his team has been able to replicate the quantum technology Google developed but hasn’t made public. He suggests that if a relatively small organization like his can achieve this, governments with more resources likely already have the capability.

A recent Google study, released on March 30th, demonstrated that a quantum computer capable of cracking 256-bit encryption—a common security standard—could be built with under 500,000 qubits. Instead of sharing the actual code for this breakthrough, Google published a ‘zero-knowledge proof’ to verify its findings. According to Ben Goertzel, this choice doesn’t alter the implications of the research.

“Keeping Capabilities Secret Buys You at Most a Very Short Window”

Google explained its decision to keep the circuit designs private as a form of responsible disclosure. The company’s blog post stated this was a change from their usual practice of being completely open, and was done to prevent potential misuse of the technology.

Many in the crypto world questioned if this went against the core idea of “don’t trust, verify.”

Goertzel did not share the concern. He told BeInCrypto the secrecy is functionally irrelevant.

We believe we could recreate the advanced chip Google discovered, given our skills and typical computing resources. If we can do that, it’s highly likely that China and other powerful groups could as well. Trying to keep this technology secret will only offer a temporary advantage.

He also stated that the ASI Alliance hasn’t kept any of its code secret for safety concerns, although the team has talked about it amongst themselves. He generally believes in being open and sharing information.

He believed that having many independent parties review information offers greater security advantages than keeping things secret, especially when both sides in a dispute are gathering evidence at the same time.

He wasn’t completely strict, though. If something created an immediate and serious risk, the team would delay its release.

However, he believes Google’s technology doesn’t reach that level of innovation because the necessary information to create it is already readily available to those with the expertise.

The 41% Problem

Google researchers have described a potential “on-spend attack” scenario. They suggest that a quantum computer could do some of the necessary calculations ahead of time, allowing it to break a Bitcoin transaction relatively quickly – around nine minutes – once the public key becomes available.

Because it typically takes 10 minutes for a Bitcoin transaction to be confirmed, the attacker has around a 41% chance of completing the process before anyone else.

The study also suggests that around 6.9 million Bitcoin are currently in wallets where the public key information has been made public somehow.

This covers roughly 1.7 million bitcoins from the very beginning of the network, plus other funds impacted by using the same addresses multiple times and a recent Bitcoin improvement called Taproot, which automatically makes certain information public.

As a crypto investor, I was really struck by what Goertzel said to BeInCrypto. He made it clear that a 41% attack isn’t just a small worry – it’s a fundamental breakdown of the system. It’s not something you can brush off; it means the whole thing is structurally flawed.

If a store-of-value chain experiences attack success rates higher than a few percent, it’s a serious issue. If people believe there’s a real chance a transaction could be reversed or an account emptied while it’s being confirmed, the fundamental security of the system—like Bitcoin’s—breaks down. A 41% success rate is far beyond what’s acceptable.

While the technology to carry out this type of attack isn’t available yet, the underlying math has been proven. Google is urging the industry to switch to post-quantum cryptography (PQC) by 2029 to prepare.

Bitcoin currently has no coordinated upgrade roadmap to meet that deadline.

ASI Alliance Says It Was Built for This

While many in the industry were discussing the potential effects, Ben Goertzel explained to BeInCrypto that his team had predicted this would happen a long time ago.

He’s estimated that artificial intelligence with human-level capabilities, often called AGI, might be possible as early as 2027 or 2028.

Google’s plans for quantum computing and the ASI Alliance’s work are intentionally designed to happen at the same time, creating a powerful combination.

The combination of advanced AI (AGI) and quantum computing is increasingly likely, and focusing solely on the potential risks overlooks significant benefits. At the ASI Alliance, we’re building ASI:Chain specifically to work *with* quantum computers – not just protect against them, but actually use their power to enhance our system. For us, the arrival of quantum computing alongside AGI is a positive development, something we see as an advantage, not a problem.

ASI:Chain, a new blockchain being built by the Alliance, is using MeTTa for its smart contracts, rather than the more common Solidity.

Goertzel explains that MeTTa incorporates systems inspired by quantum mechanics. His team has created quantum-based versions of key Hyperon AGI algorithms, specifically those controlling focus, logical reasoning, and learning through evolution.

The encryption system is built with separate, interchangeable parts. This means new, quantum-resistant encryption methods – like those based on lattices or hashing – can be added without needing to overhaul the entire system or create a new version.

The downside is the processing power it requires. Goertzel considered this a practical problem for engineers to solve, rather than a fundamental flaw in the system’s design.

As a crypto investor, I’ve been watching the creation of the Artificial Superintelligence Alliance – or FET, as it’s now known. Basically, it came about when four projects – SingularityNET, Fetch.ai, Ocean Protocol, and CUDOS – combined their tokens into one. It’s a pretty big move in the AI space, and I’m interested to see where it goes.

Ocean Protocol ultimately withdrew from the merger, which subsequently led to a lawsuit involving claims of stolen tokens.

Its token, FET, currently trades at roughly $0.241, up by over 5% in the last 24 hours.

“A Catastrophic Precedent for Digital Property Rights”

As a crypto investor, I found Google’s recent research pretty concerning. They identified around 1.7 million Bitcoin – from the very early days of Bitcoin – that are stored in wallets where the public keys are permanently visible. This basically means those Bitcoins are potentially more vulnerable to being stolen, since anyone can see the addresses and try to access the funds.

These coins can’t be transferred to a new system because their owners are either missing or can’t be contacted. A new plan suggests giving governments the legal power to use quantum computing to access these inactive coins, a process called “digital salvage.”

Goertzel rejected the premise.

Allowing governments to legally access private cryptocurrency wallets would be a dangerous step for digital ownership. The core idea behind cryptocurrency is that you control your own funds through your private keys. If governments can legally take coins from owners who aren’t actively using them, it destroys that fundamental principle and undermines the entire system.

He admitted that eventually, someone will find a way to access those coins. The real issue is whether there are rules in place to manage that access, or if it will be a chaotic scramble. He generally believes it’s best to leave old coins alone, letting the market naturally account for the risk that they might be compromised later.

Changpeng Zhao, a co-founder of Binance, proposed a possible solution to protect old Bitcoin holdings. He suggested that if the Bitcoin associated with Satoshi Nakamoto’s original addresses remains untouched for a while, the community could potentially ‘lock’ or permanently remove those addresses to prevent hackers from accessing the funds.

I noticed some concern about how quantum computing might affect cryptocurrencies. Basically, all crypto needs to do is update to use quantum-resistant algorithms, so there’s no real cause for alarm! 😂

However, actually implementing these updates will be a bit complex…

— CZ 🔶 BNB (@cz_binance) March 31, 2026

He also pointed out that even figuring out which addresses truly belonged to Satoshi, and weren’t just used by early Bitcoin adopters, would be very difficult.

The Race Is Already On

Chamath Palihapitiya, a venture capitalist, praised Google’s research and encouraged the cryptocurrency world to develop a plan to protect against the potential threat of quantum computing in the next few years.

Changpeng Zhao (CZ) believes cryptocurrency will continue to exist even with the development of quantum computing. However, he cautioned that updating these networks, which are spread across many users, will likely lead to disagreements, splits in the network, and could even create new security vulnerabilities.

Goertzel is more direct. He explained to BeInCrypto that only projects which began preparing for quantum computing years ago will succeed. Those that start working on it after cryptocurrencies are first broken by quantum attacks won’t survive.

Given the current situation, his advice for everyday investors is straightforward: transfer your digital assets to addresses that use the newest security key formats.

For Bitcoin, enhanced privacy can be achieved by using SegWit (bech32) addresses, which keep the public key secret until funds are spent. It’s also important to avoid using the same address multiple times. With Ethereum, the privacy issues are more fundamental, and there aren’t many easy solutions for individual users.

Goertzel explained to BeInCrypto that the potential threat from quantum computing doesn’t completely destroy the idea of decentralization.

This significantly increases the risk. If a single entity were to break Bitcoin’s security and seize hundreds of billions of dollars worth of assets, it would greatly concentrate power. However, the original idea wasn’t that current encryption methods would remain secure indefinitely.

The idea that decentralization is the future will hold true if decentralized projects can build better technology than centralized ones, especially as we move towards quantum computing. And that’s precisely our goal.

Recent research from Google, along with a study from Caltech and Oratomic demonstrating that Shor’s algorithm can work with a practical number of qubits (10,000), indicates that the timeline for developing powerful quantum computers capable of breaking current encryption may be closer than previously thought.

Goertzel believes his team has already achieved a breakthrough, and now others in the field are working hard to reach the same point.

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2026-04-01 14:37