$718 Billion Bitcoin Quantum Threat to Be Addressed by New Startup

Project Eleven has raised $20 million to build defenses against the existential threat quantum computing poses to cryptocurrency. The round values the startup at $120 million.

The company is backed by heavyweights from its June 2025 seed round, including crypto-native VC Variant Fund and quantum tech fund Quantonation. 

Project Eleven is preparing for “Q-Day.” This is the theoretical event when quantum computers become powerful enough to break the encryption that secures the internet and financial systems.

Bitcoin, Ethereum, and most major blockchains rely on Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) for generating public and private keys. A sufficiently powerful quantum computer running Shor’s Algorithm could theoretically reverse this process. 

This would allow an attacker to empty any wallet where the public key has been exposed. 

According to the startup’s estimates, roughly $718 billion worth of Bitcoin has been exposed since it is sitting in vulnerable wallets.  

The solution 

Project Eleven is specifically working on “post-quantum” infrastructure for existing blockchains. Their flagship product, which is called “Yellowpages,” functions as a cryptographic registry that allows users to sign a message proving they own a vulnerable Bitcoin address and link it to a quantum-secure identity.

This creates a “fallback” record of ownership that could be used to recover funds if the main network were compromised.

Is the quantum threat overhyped? 

As of today, the consensus among cryptographers, government agencies, and market analysts is that the immediate threat of quantum computers breaking Bitcoin is overhyped,

Most authoritative voices agree that a “Q-Day” event is not happening this year (or anytime soon).

That said, Ethereum’s Buterin recently warned that elliptic curve cryptography could end up being compromised by quantum computing before 2028.