Binance suffered the largest cryptocurrency theft in history, with attackers stealing approximately $6.36 billion across ten blockchains in a matter of minutes. The FBI attributes the breach to North Korea’s TraderTraitor hacking group, highlighting the growing threat of state-sponsored actors targeting digital assets. The attack exploited EIP-7702 delegation on Ethereum, granting an attacker-controlled contract authority over a Binance hot wallet, and emphasises a critical point: “the cryptography protecting digital assets is only as strong as the systems controlling it.” Simultaneously, advances in quantum computing suggest that attacks on these systems may soon become significantly cheaper.
$6.4B Binance Hack and North Korea’s TraderTraitor Group
The October 29 breach at Binance resulted in the theft of approximately $6.36 billion across ten blockchains, a figure that dwarfs the previous largest crypto theft of $6.36 billion recorded in 2025 involving Bybit. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has directly attributed responsibility for the attack to TraderTraitor, a hacking group operating under the direction of the North Korean state. While initial assessments focused on a compromised DevOps engineer’s laptop, Binance subsequently identified multiple access points used by the attackers, indicating a more complex and deliberate operation.
Billions in assets were rapidly transferred across various networks before containment measures could be fully implemented. Elliptic, a blockchain analytics firm, reported that approximately $2.85 billion of the stolen funds had been frozen or seized, though a substantial portion remained in circulation through wallets, exchanges and decentralized finance protocols.
CoinDCX experienced a $16 million loss due to a retired wallet remaining operational, while an Avalanche Safe suffered a $7.45 million theft stemming from lingering token approvals. Researchers have also identified weaknesses in both hardware wallets and Electrum servers, demonstrating the many-sided nature of these threats. Project Eleven’s launch of the Ethereum Risq List, identifying exposed assets, reflects a growing industry awareness of these risks and a proactive effort to quantify potential vulnerabilities.
Anthropic’s Claude discovered a more efficient approach to modular inversion, reducing the gate count for an elliptic-curve point addition circuit by approximately 17x while requiring 12% more qubits, the company says. This is an early demonstration of how AI could accelerate quantum algorithm optimization, reducing the resources required to execute attacks. The company demonstrated magic state cultivation on its Willow processor, reducing errors by approximately 40x and producing magic states with 99.99% fidelity, according to Project Eleven.
Project Eleven’s response extends beyond risk assessment with the introduction of Strongpoint, an institutional custody platform designed for the AI era. The platform’s crypto-agile architecture aims to allow for cryptographic evolution without requiring complete security infrastructure overhauls, as this feature is essential as blockchains transition to new standards. Zcash Foundation has joined as a development partner, focusing on shielded ZEC custody, while Quantus will support blockchains and Relm Insurance will explore quantum risk assessment for digital asset insurance.
Alice & Bob’s Reduced Qubit Count for Bitcoin Key Recovery
Estimates published on October 29 reveal a significant reduction in the quantum resources needed to potentially compromise Bitcoin’s security, suggesting a machine with approximately 29,588 physical cat qubits could recover a private key in roughly 62 minutes. While a one-hour timeframe remains insufficient to reliably attack an ongoing Bitcoin transaction, the potential for retroactive key compromise looms for the more than seven million BTC currently held with exposed public keys.
Anthropic’s Claude AI further accelerates this progression, having autonomously discovered a more efficient approach to modular inversion in a 53-hour research run. The company’s recent achievement of 99.9995% logical fidelity on its Helios processor on October 19, a ten-fold improvement over their September result, highlights parallel advances in error correction.
These individual advancements, while not yet culminating in a Bitcoin-breaking quantum computer, collectively paint a concerning picture for long-term cryptographic security, the company says. The company states it remains on track to deliver a universal fault-tolerant quantum computer by 2029, though the timeline for practical, large-scale decryption remains uncertain, Project Eleven reports. Two years ago, Project Eleven started with a simple thesis: the cryptography securing digital assets will eventually become vulnerable to quantum computers, and upgrading decentralized networks will take years, a thesis now gaining increasing urgency within the industry.
Ethereum Risq List Reveals $197B in Quantum-Exposed Assets
Project Eleven’s Ethereum Risq List, launched on October 30, details $197 billion in Ethereum assets vulnerable to future quantum attacks, identifying 88.1 million ETH, roughly 72.11% of the total supply. This assessment builds on Project Eleven’s earlier work mapping quantum risk within the Bitcoin network, extending the visibility of cryptographic vulnerabilities to the second-largest blockchain by market capitalization.
The list is intended to provide a starting point for Ethereum holders to assess and mitigate potential risks as quantum computing technology advances. The escalating threat of quantum computers is emphasised by recent events, including the $6.36 billion theft from Binance on October 29, which saw attackers move funds across ten blockchains in a mere 20 minutes.
Project Eleven’s analysis indicates that the hardware requirements for quantum attacks are decreasing, while error correction and algorithmic optimization, accelerated by artificial intelligence, are simultaneously improving the efficiency of these attacks, by the company’s account. As blockchains transition to new cryptographic standards, Strongpoint aims to address the challenge of supporting diverse signature schemes across networks while maintaining consistent security protocols, transaction approvals, and audit controls.
“The next phase of post-quantum security is moving beyond research and into real-world deployment,” according to Project Eleven, signaling a shift from theoretical preparation to practical implementation of quantum-resistant solutions. Since 2024, the company has raised $26 million and acquired Riva Labs to further these efforts.
Strongpoint: Project Eleven’s Crypto-Agile Custody Platform
Project Eleven launched the platform with a crypto-agile architecture, enabling the evolution of underlying cryptography without requiring complete overhauls of existing security infrastructure. This design anticipates the need for flexible systems as blockchains adopt varied signature schemes during their post-quantum transitions. These collaborations signal a move toward comprehensive security solutions encompassing both technological advancements and financial safeguards.
This launch follows $26 million in funding raised since 2024, alongside the publication of the Bitcoin and Ethereum Risq Lists and the acquisition of Riva Labs, demonstrating a sustained investment in both risk assessment and platform development. The company’s two-year trajectory highlights an increasingly urgent need to prepare decentralized networks for the potential vulnerabilities posed by quantum computers.
See today’s quantum computing news on Quantum Zeitgeist for the latest breakthroughs in qubits, hardware, algorithms, and industry deals.
