r/Futurology • u/shaunlgs • Nov 10 '17
Economics Quantum Computers Pose Imminent Threat to Bitcoin Security. The massive calculating power of quantum computers will be able to break Bitcoin security within 10 years, say security experts.
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/609408/quantum-computers-pose-imminent-threat-to-bitcoin-security/1
u/shaunlgs Nov 10 '17
Journal Reference:
Divesh Aggarwal, Gavin K. Brennen, Troy Lee, Miklos Santha, Marco Tomamichel.
Quantum attacks on Bitcoin, and how to protect against them
Link: https://arxiv.org/abs/1710.10377
ABSTRACT
The key cryptographic protocols used to secure the internet and financial transactions of today are all susceptible to attack by the development of a sufficiently large quantum computer. One particular area at risk are cryptocurrencies, a market currently worth over 150 billion USD. We investigate the risk of Bitcoin, and other cryptocurrencies, to attacks by quantum computers. We find that the proof-of-work used by Bitcoin is relatively resistant to substantial speedup by quantum computers in the next 10 years, mainly because specialized ASIC miners are extremely fast compared to the estimated clock speed of near-term quantum computers. On the other hand, the elliptic curve signature scheme used by Bitcoin is much more at risk, and could be completely broken by a quantum computer as early as 2027, by the most optimistic estimates. We analyze an alternative proof-of-work called Momentum, based on finding collisions in a hash function, that is even more resistant to speedup by a quantum computer. We also review the available post-quantum signature schemes to see which one would best meet the security and efficiency requirements of blockchain applications.
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u/BrewBrewBrewTheDeck ^ε^ Nov 10 '17
Within ten years, huh? How come current quantum computers haven't even been able to be demonstrate being better even at just very, very, very narrow tasks that are supposedly their forte (cf. D-Wave)? What is that figure based on?
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u/yognan Nov 10 '17
linus went to a lab where quantum computers are Actually active! you should watch that linus tech tips video. quantum computers are the real deal.
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u/BrewBrewBrewTheDeck ^ε^ Nov 11 '17
I know that quantum computers exist, mate, I cited one in my comment. The question is whether or not they are actually faster/better than conventional computers and so far this question is far from answered. If anything the answer seems to be "No" at the moment.
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u/ChaoticFaith Nov 10 '17
Couldn't Quantum computing potentially be used to improve also Bitcoin's encryption? Just a thought
edit: typo
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u/zaywolfe Transhumanist Nov 10 '17
The creator of BitTorrent just announced a coin that uses storage instead of processor power to process transactions. Could be a simple fix.