120 Qubits and Counting as IBM Moves Closer to Cracking Modern Encryption

IBM has announced a major leap in quantum computing, creating the world’s largest entangled quantum state of 120 ￰0￱ to IBM , the achievement could pave the way for computers powerful enough to challenge Bitcoin’s encryption in the ￰1￱ their study titled “Big Cats: Entanglement in 120 Qubits and Beyond,” IBM scientists said they had achieved full multi-qubit entanglement for the first time — a crucial step toward building fault-tolerant quantum systems capable of running algorithms that surpass today’s cryptographic security. “We aim to create a large entangled state on a quantum computer using a noise-minimizing ￰2￱ applied approaches from graph theory, stabilizer groups, and circuit decomposition to achieve this goal,” the paper ￰3￱ IBM’s 120-Qubit Quantum System The team used a special class of quantum states known as Greenberger–Horn–Zeilinger (GHZ), often called “cat states” after Schrödinger’s famous ￰4￱ these states, all qubits exist simultaneously in both 0 and 1, changing synchronously — a delicate form of entanglement that tests the boundaries of quantum coherence.

“Besides their practical applications, GHZ states have long been used as tests for various quantum platforms — ions, photons, and ￰5￱ are extremely sensitive to imperfections, making them ideal even for quantum sensing at the threshold of the Heisenberg principle,” the researchers ￰6￱ reach 120 qubits, IBM used superconducting circuits and an adaptive compiler that positioned operations in the least noisy regions of the ￰7￱ researchers also introduced a temporary “decomputing” technique, allowing exhausted qubits to stabilize before reinsertion into the system The precision level achieved for the 120-qubit GHZ state was 0.56, exceeding the 0.5 threshold that confirms true ￰8￱ essence, all 120 qubits functioned as a single coherent quantum ￰9￱ directly calculating such a massive quantum state would take longer than the age of the universe, IBM validated its results through statistical parity measurements and direct fidelity estimation, where each stabilizer acts as a diagnostic marker confirming synchronization.

Bitcoin, Cryptography, and the Quantum Future While today’s quantum systems can’t yet break modern encryption, IBM’s result signals how close that future may ￰10￱ to Project 11, an independent research group, 6.6 million BTC — roughly $767 billion could be vulnerable to quantum attacks once the technology matures. “This is one of Bitcoin’s biggest contradictions: what to do with Satoshi’s coins? You can’t move them, and Satoshi has likely ￰11￱ what happens to these bitcoins? They’re a significant part of the ￰12￱ can either burn them, redistribute them, or let a quantum computer retrieve them,” said Alex Pruden, founder of Project ￰13￱ a public key is exposed, a sufficiently advanced quantum computer could theoretically derive the corresponding private key and steal funds before a transaction is ￰14￱ IBM’s system is far from that capability, its progress underscores a future where quantum and crypto worlds may collide.

IBM’s next step is Quantum Starling, a fault-tolerant quantum computer planned for 2029 — a milestone many experts see as the year quantum threats could become real. A Global Quantum Race Intensifies IBM is not alone. Google’s Quantum AI division recently revealed its 105-qubit Willow chip, which performed a physics algorithm faster than any classical supercomputer. Meanwhile, HSBC is experimenting with quantum algorithms for bond trading, and BlackRock has warned that quantum technology could disrupt digital finance ￰15￱ are responding as ￰16￱ August 2025, El Salvador moved 6,200 BTC to new blockchain addresses “to reduce the risk of quantum attacks.” “Tether Gold proves that real assets can exist effectively on-chain without compromise,” said Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, whose gold-backed token XAUT hit a market capitalization of $2.1 billion by Q3 ￰17￱ the quantum era dawns, IBM’s breakthrough represents both technological progress and a warning — a glimpse into a future where computing power may reshape the foundations of cryptography and digital finance.