StarkWare competition reduces quantum-safe Bitcoin transaction costs by 80%

The cost of executing quantum-safe Bitcoin transactions has decreased by approximately 80 percent following a competitive optimization challenge. StarkWare, in collaboration with Yukon Research and Eigen Labs, reported that the estimated GPU computing cost for these transactions dropped from roughly $320 to $67 in a single week.

The reduction was achieved through the ‘Quantum-Safe Bitcoin Optimization Challenge,’ an open competition designed to improve code efficiency. The primary expense in this process is the brute-force search performed on a user's local hardware rather than blockchain fees. By optimizing algorithms, developers reduced the number of required attempts to find a valid hash.

AI models, including those from Anthropic, OpenAI, and others, were among the top performers in the competition. Performance metrics on a standard RTX 4090 GPU showed an increase in verified candidates per second, rising from 146 million to over 820 million. While these advancements significantly lower the barrier to quantum-resistant transactions, the transactions remain non-standardized and must be sent directly to miners.