Bitcoin Forum

Press release (http://www.dwavesys.com/en/pressreleases.html#lm_2011)

Q&A with HPCwire (http://www.hpcwire.com/hpcwire/2011-05-26/d-wave_sells_first_quantum_computer.html)


How does this affect the crypto used in Bitcoin? Are there known quantum algorithms for breaking ECDSA and SHA-2?

I am so glad I am living in the future

Maybe.

Not all superconducting ring reduction systems are quantum in nature.

See this IEEE article (http://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/hardware/loser-dwave-does-not-quantum-compute).  The good stuff is on page 2.

No.

The wallet is full before you start the client.  ;D

I know, I'll go away now...

First things first, we'll worry about blocks once we get DOOM running.

I was reassured by your saying this, but after looking into it more I'm not so sure. The difficulty of deriving an ECDSA private key from the public comes from the difficulty of the discrete logarithm problem, and Shor's algorithm reduces that to polynomial time.

modified shor's algorithm could be used to attack ecc crypto, however not with (only) 8 stable qubits :)

However even if that were (likely) to happen bitcoin could just change the cryptosystem(s) to something not vulnerable to quantum computer based attack.

If a decent implementation of Shor's algorithm ever shows up, it will be the end of all cryptography, not just bitcoin.  At that point, we will literally be carrying discrete milligrams and micrograms of gold around in our pockets, because nothing else will be trusted.

When this becomes a threat I'm sure there will be people who are willing to do it - especially if bitcoin continues to grow the way it's growing.

IF it isn't already a threat, when it becomes one, the establishment isn't going to advertise it, they will just attack and disrupt Bitcoin in a way that the latter can't avoid losing widespread public trust.

Until then, it's clear to me that the best developers will continue to mainly be concerned with the latest improvements to their e-commerce shopping cart... :D

But it still doesn't completely remove the security, it just makes it easier to brute force crack; but only if you have enough qubits to do it.  Also, Bitcoin is modular, and ECDSA can be swapped out for something more secure against quantum computations.  I'm pretty sure that quantum computers are not a threat to SHA-256 or it's related algorithms.

You are right.  I was thinking this morning that it had been many years since I looked into it, so I did some more checking, and found this paper on Quantum Resistant Public Key Cryptography (http://middleware.internet2.edu/idtrust/2009/papers/07-perlner-quantum.pdf).

Good to know.  I assume as long NP!=P, there's something we can use.

Otherwise, we might have to use one-time pads, and only trust humans we've physically met.

this scares the shit out of me.. :P of course the american 'security' company would buy it...
now they can use it to pick voices out of phone calls, scan thousands of video feeds for people...

crypto is small fry compared to the 'advertised' applications of this computer.
Welcome to the future, please deposite your human rights and privacy at the door.

There has been considerable skepticism in the theoretical computer science community over whether D-Wave's box even does quantum computing at all.

Most suspect it does at best simulated annealing which would have zero impact on anything.

They recently published a paper in Nature in which they try to suggest there is something quantum going on for 8 entangled bits, which is far less than the 128 qubits they are claiming for the box they are selling.

At this point, there is little to suggest they have anything other than superlative marketing hype.

So it affects Bitcoin not at all.

FUD FUD F.U.D.!!!!

sell me your bitcoins @ $2/BTC

The US tried very hard to suppress PGP.  It was only after it realized that a) there was no putting the genie back in the bottle, and b) the rest of the world was starting to innovate around cryptography that the US finally dropped its restrictions.  Had they continued to try and resist, much of the R&D would have simply left the US (and in fact, I think much did and the damage that the PGP battle did to innovation in the US is still being felt).

US govt. shot itself in the foot with PGP crap-fight .... will probably do it again with bitcoin.

What's to say this "quantum computer" is anything other than just another govt. boondoggle for a connected contractor?

I'll just leave this here... (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-quantum_cryptography)

Me too ...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/8545096/Lockheed-Martin-computers-under-significant-attack.html

Lockheed Martin, the Pentagon's biggest IT and arms supplier, has thwarted a "significant and tenacious attack" on its computer network, it emerged yesterday.

Yesterday however Lockheed was still working to restore employee access to its networks, and the experts from the Department Homeland Security and the Pentagon were trying to determine the extent of the data breach.

No dubt, that was attack of artifical intellect, that arise in Dvawe.