Can Google’s 13,000× “quantum echoes” put Bitcoin’s keys on a clock?

For decades, physicists have promised that quantum computing would one day outrun classical machines. That day may have arrived.

On Oct. 22, Google’s Willow quantum processor completed a task that supercomputers would need 150 years to finish by compressing centuries of calculation into two hours.

Industry experts say the result, verified by Nature, isn’t only a triumph for science. It’s a tremor through the foundations of digital security, sparking a renewed question in financial circles: how close are we to a future where quantum power can break Bitcoin’s cryptography?

The breakthrough

The breakthrough centers on the Out-of-Time-Order Correlator (OTOC), or “Quantum Echoes,” algorithm.

By running it on 105 physical qubits at 99.9% fidelity, Willow became the first processor to achieve verifiable quantum advantage, proving that a quantum computer can solve a complex physical model faster and more precisely than any classical supercomputer.

In simple terms, Willow didn’t just calculate; it perceived. Its output revealed molecular structures and magnetic interactions that were mathematically invisible to traditional systems. The processor outperformed classical machines by a factor of 13,000, completing the computation in hours instead of years.

This milestone follows years of incremental progress. In 2019, Google’s Sycamore chip first demonstrated “quantum supremacy.”

By 2024, Willow had corrected its own quantum errors in real time. The 2025 achievement goes further, offering the first fully verifiable, independently confirmed result that transforms quantum computing from theory to proof.

Speaking on the milestone, Sundar Pichai, Google’s CEO, said: