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- There have been warnings about how quantum computing could break Bitcoin, and now an expert has described it as an urgent matter.
- It has, however, been theorized that most Bitcoins are ‘safe’ from quantum computing attacks as they no longer use the p2pk address format.
While regulators have cracked down on Bitcoin in some regions globally, hackers have descended on trading and storage platforms and altcoins keep chipping away from its market share, Bitcoin may have an even bigger problem. According to one expert, quantum computing threatens Bitcoin more than anything ever has, and the industry must address this urgently.
Quantum computing has been in development for about three decades now, with governments and some of the biggest companies globally such as Google and Microsoft investing billions of dollars in it. And it’s coming of age. This new era of computing replaces traditional computer bits with ‘qubits’ that can process information at a vastly superior speed. For perspective, researchers claim that within a decade, quantum computers will be fully functional and will be able to break anything from your cell phone’s encryption to email addresses and even more worryingly, Bitcoin addresses.
David Williams, the founder of quantum encryption company Arqit, is calling on the cryptocurrency industry to address this urgently or risk the biggest problem yet. David’s company is set to list at the New York Stock Exchange in the coming month via a SPAC acquisition.
He told Forbes:
Quantum computers, expected to be operational by around 2026, will easily undermine any blockchain security systems because of their power. There needs to be rather more urgency.
Related: Ripple CTO: Quantum computers will be a threat to Bitcoin and XRP
Is quantum computing as bad as they say?
This Pandora’s box can’t be ignored, especially with the advances in the field. Google, for instance, recently announced that its scientists had created “micro-scale time crystals for years for energizing ultrapowerful computers,” as reported by the Washington Post. This, according to UC Berkley’s Narman Yao, is “a rest stop on the road to building a quantum computer.”
Charles Hoskinson, the Ethereum co-creator and Cardano creator sounded a warning earlier this year. He claimed that while developers can upgrade to post-quantum algorithms, this would dramatically slow blockchains down (and Bitcoin isn’t exactly fast even in its current state).
He cautioned:
Blockchains are effectively fundamentally flawed if they don’t address the oncoming quantum age. The grownups in the room know what’s coming.
Other experts have sounded a warning as well. Duncan Jones, the head of quantum cybersecurity at Cambridge Quantum Computing stated:
If this isn’t addressed before quantum computers pose a threat, the impact would be massive. Attackers could create fraudulent transactions and steal currency, as well as potentially disrupting blockchain operations.
And if you think that this is just fear-mongering, Thorsten Groetker assures you that it’s not. Groetker, a globally leading expert in this field, is the former CTO of Utimaco, one of the biggest companies in this field that has worked extensively with Google and Microsoft in this field.
“If I was dealing in fear-mongering … I’d tell you that among the first types of digital signatures that will be broken by quantum computers are elliptic curves, as we use them today, for bitcoin wallets. But that would happen if we do nothing,” he told CNBC.
