The Protocol: Quantum computing could break Bitcoin sooner, says Google Also: OpenAI raises $122 billion, crypto ecosystems diverging post-quantum strategies, and Base’s 2026 roadmap. What to know: Welcome to The Protocol, CoinDesk's weekly wrap of the most important stories in cryptocurrency tech development. I’m Margaux Nijkerk, a reporter at CoinDesk. In this issue: - Breaking Bitcoin with quantum may be easier than thought, with Taproot partly to blame, Google says - OpenAI raises a record $122 billion as revenue crosses $2 billion per month - Here's how Bitcoin, Ethereum and other networks are preparing for the looming quantum threat - Coinbase’s Base to focus on tokenized markets, stablecoins, developers this year Network News GOOGLE SAYS BREAKING BITCOIN IS EASIER THAN PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT: Breaking the Bitcoin blockchain with quantum computers may not be as difficult as once thought, and Bitcoin’s Taproot technology, which enables more efficient, private transactions, may be partly to blame, Google's Quantum AI team said in a blog post and newly published whitepaper. The team said the computing power required to break Bitcoin’s security may be far lower than previously assumed, raising fresh questions about how soon quantum threats could become a reality.In a new whitepaper, researchers found that cracking the cryptography used by Bitcoin and Ethereum could require fewer than 500,000 physical quantum bits, or qubits, well below the “millions” often cited in recent years. Google has previously pointed to 2029 as a potential milestone for useful quantum systems, saying migration needs to come before that, making the paper’s finding that attacks may require less computing power more significant. Quantum computers use qubits instead of traditional bits and can solve certain problems much faster than today’s machines. One of those problems is breaking the type of encryption that protects crypto wallets.Google said it designed two potential attack