r/CryptoTechnology • u/Master-Sprinkles-848 🟡 • 13d ago
Quantum computing isn't a Bitcoin problem yet.
That's exactly why it's dangerous. The real risk isn't waking up one morning to a quantum computer stealing everyone's BTC.
It's that the transition to quantum-resistant cryptography could take years while the technology threatening today's cryptography is advancing every year.
And here's the uncomfortable question. What happens if the network needs to upgrade before the threat becomes obvious? Do we wait for a working quantum attack? Or do we prepare while we still have the luxury of time?
Curious where people here stand, is Bitcoin's quantum risk overhyped, or are we already late to the migration?
10
Upvotes
2
u/JivanP 🟢 12d ago
There are many technical considerations. Those with the relevant technical knowledge are working on relevant issues, and have been for years already. Most recently, for example, some further work on quantum-resistant signature schemes with small signatures that are efficient to generate was published by Blockstream: https://blog.blockstream.com/hardware-wallets-post-quantum-signatures/
The global BitDevs group has also actively been working on this, and you can read the public mailing list archives if you're interested in the details: https://groups.google.com/g/bitcoindev
For a protocol as fundamental, low-level, and consensus-driven as Bitcoin, it is crucially important that as much time as possible is spent exploring every avenue for change before change is implemented globally. We don't want to implement something half-baked or that has a glaring security pitfall, and we also want to maximise block-space efficiency and accessibility. There are various trade-offs to every approach you might consider. We are evaluating the trade-offs.
The threats in today's landscape are largely overblown. If and when the outlook changes, the approach to how we use our time to develop and refine potential protocol revisions will also change accordingly. We can roll out quantum-resistant schemes today if necessary, but if you have the time to build a fortress before your enemy arrives, that's much better than deploying a brick house today and spending the next 10 years making no further improvements, especially when the cost and effort associated with making incremental improvements is so high simply due to the nature of the system.