Google's new chip Willow made a big statement that quantum computing is coming to the real world. That could also mean a future of cryptocurrency hacking.

Google’s quantum chip Willow sparked fears for Bitcoin’s security. Discover why these fears are exaggerated and Bitcoin is safe.

Quantum computing represents massive opportunities if the company involved can be the first to market with a feasible device. Alphabet ( GOOG -0.24%) ( GOOGL 0.06%) seems to be on that track, as a chip produced by its Google subsidiary just posted an unbelievable score on a benchmark test.

Through a newly unveiled quantum chip called Willow, Google engineers have passed a significant milestone in error handling. Specifically, they've been able to keep a single logical qubit stable enough so errors occur maybe once every hour, which is a vast improvement on previous setups that failed every few seconds.

Google has unveiled Willow, its latest, greatest quantum computing chip that can tackle complex problems in a mere five minutes—an accomplishment that would currently take the world’s fastest super computers an unfathomable ten septillion (that is, 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) years to achieve.

That’s why error correction has been a major focus for quantum computing companies in recent years. Now, Google’s new Willow quantum processor, unveiled Monday, has crossed a critical threshold suggesting that as the company’s devices get larger, their ability to suppress errors will improve exponentially.

This announcement comes at a time when Google has faced criticism for slowing down in innovation and losing relevance, especially as competitors like OpenAI have gained significant attention.

Google just dropped Willow, a quantum chip that redefines what “fast” and “accurate” even mean. This isn’t your typical tech innovation. Willow can perform calculations in under five minutes, which would take the fastest supercomputers 10 septillion years to crack.