On June 23, news emerged that the Google Quantum Research Team has made a groundbreaking discovery. The research indicates that the quantum resources required to crack the RSA encryption algorithm, widely used to protect bank accounts, e-commerce, and cryptocurrency wallets, are estimated to be 20 times less than previously thought, potentially reducing the quantum threshold for breaking RSA by 95%, thus challenging previous security assumptions.Based on the new findings, cracking a set of 2048-bit RSA encryption could be completed in less than a week with fewer than 1 million qubits. In contrast, estimates from 2019 suggested that this would require a quantum computer with 20 million noisy qubits running for about 8 hours.Although this research focuses on the RSA algorithm, its implications extend throughout the encryption world. The security of mainstream cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, which utilize elliptic curve cryptography, is also based on similar mathematical challenges. Theoretically, if quantum computers can crack RSA, they would also pose a threat to ECC. (Source: Hexun)