Traditional encryption methods have long been vulnerable to quantum computers, but two new analyses suggest a capable enough machine may be built much sooner than previously thought

Building a utility-scale quantum computer that can crack one of the most vital cryptosystems—elliptic curves—doesn’t require nearly the resources anticipated just a year or two ago, two independently written whitepapers have concluded.

The research shows quantum computers may break bitcoin and ether wallet encryption with far fewer qubits than previously thought, accelerating the push toward post-quantum security.

With around 26,000 qubits, the encryption could be broken in a day, the researchers report in a paper submitted March 30 to arXiv.org. Another prevalent form of encryption, RSA–2048, would require 100,000 qubits and 10 days to break, according to the researchers, from Caltech and quantum computing company Oratomic in Pasadena, Calif.

Future quantum computers will need to be less powerful than we thought to threaten the security of encrypted messages.