Topic: What does Quantum Computing mean for Bitcoin? - page 6. (Read 23227 times)
Perhaps with quantum technology it will be feasible not only to keep bitcoin alive, but to build a better bitcoin along the way. For example, fully homomorphic encryption has recently just been shown to be possible, yet it is too slow for production use. Perhaps something like that would be incorporated into the "next generation" bitcoin, thereby making bitcoin transactions verifiable, yet untraceable.
The "something else" has to be something that quantum computers are not better at solving than classical computers. Quantum computers do not magically make P=NP, so there are still be problems where solutions are hard to find but easy to check, even with cheap quantum computing everywhere.
Easier said than done.
Yes, it's nontrivial, but it could be done. My point is that QC wouldn't be the end of Bitcoin, and that we might be able to defend against it without having any quantum technology ourselves.
Making Bitcoin QC-safe might just be a matter of replacing our public-key cryptography (ECDSA) with something else.
Easier said than done.
We will have to keep secrets by not sharing them...
Making Bitcoin QC-safe might just be a matter of replacing our public-key cryptography (ECDSA) with something else.
Easier said than done.
QC doesn't even magically make all crypto easier. There's a quantum algorithm for fast integer factorisation, and for a few other things, but there are also classical public-key systems which aren't known to be broken at all by QC.
I expect if it looks like someone's getting close to building a quantum computer, a lot of effort will go into the development of these systems. Making Bitcoin QC-safe might just be a matter of replacing our public-key cryptography (ECDSA) with something else.
I expect if it looks like someone's getting close to building a quantum computer, a lot of effort will go into the development of these systems. Making Bitcoin QC-safe might just be a matter of replacing our public-key cryptography (ECDSA) with something else.
QC doesn't just magically break all crypto, it makes it a lot easier possibly by several magnitudes,but many things could still be considered 'safe' for daily use.
If QC came into existence, he said we could use QC to encrypt and make this encryption impossible to crack by QC. And of course, the only 100% impossible to break encryption is one time pads.
Indeed, with QC we won't use DSA, we'll just use quantum cryptography, which will be much better than prime numbers based cryptography.
I guess it will then be easy to create a quantic cryptocurrency. Is there a quantum computing version of proof-of-work ?
But anyway so far this is just science-fiction. We might as well talk about space tourism to Alpha Centauri.
My brother-in-law is a physicist very involved in the world of research on quantum computing and I just asked him this question last week. All modern secure computing uses encryption based upon the same principals and if QC becomes a reality, all modern secure computing becomes insecure.
He thinks QC is a boondoggle and it reminds him of the government funded fusion research. A big money effort to something that may never happen and we are not even close.
If QC came into existence, he said we could use QC to encrypt and make this encryption impossible to crack by QC. And of course, the only 100% impossible to break encryption is one time pads.
He thinks QC is a boondoggle and it reminds him of the government funded fusion research. A big money effort to something that may never happen and we are not even close.
If QC came into existence, he said we could use QC to encrypt and make this encryption impossible to crack by QC. And of course, the only 100% impossible to break encryption is one time pads.
Could the sudden existence of quantum computing mean the sudden uselessness of Bitcoin as a currency?
Yes. But pretty much also for everything you consider safe on the internet.
If we invent quantum cryptography, business will continue on.
Otherwise, everybody's secret in the world can and will be cracked.
Otherwise, everybody's secret in the world can and will be cracked.
Simple question, and I am by no means well-rounded in my knowledge of quantum computing. But what I have read indicates that it is a massive hammer to all crypto algos currently in existence. Could the sudden existence of quantum computing mean the sudden uselessness of Bitcoin as a currency?
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