A Quantum Computing-Dominated World is Coming... (truncated)

[ebliever]

A Quantum Computing-Dominated World Is Coming In Less Than 10 Years, Says CEO Of Acronis

http://www.forbes.com/sites/nanhiein/2016/08/15/a-quantum-computing-dominated-world-is-coming-in-less-than-10-years-says-ceo-of-acronis/amp/

An interesting article on quantum computing, claiming that developments are coming quickly in this area. My understanding is that while bitcoin is not wholly broken by the availability of quantum computers, there would be some things that need to be addressed. I hate to distract from transaction capacity improvements, but does this need to start moving up on someone's to-do list?

There is some brief discussion of cryptography most of the way through the article, but only from the standpoint that greater privacy can be achieved with QC. That sounds hopeful, as until now I'd only heard of QC in the context of breaking existing password-based protections.

[ebliever]

Off-topic note: It is funny how people can be very intelligent in some respects, and then very foolish in others. Near the end of the article it claims QC could lead to ultralight cars that only weigh 15 kg.  Speaking as an auto engineer in Illinois, this immediately gives rise in my mind to visions of cars rolling across the landscape like tumbleweeds on the first windy day. 

[gentlemand]

My understanding is that while bitcoin is not wholly broken by the availability of quantum computers, there would be some things that need to be addressed.

Every single type of security in every single area will be broken if this comes to pass. Everything will have to be repaired. Worry about your power supply being disrupted or your food not being delivered before Bitcoin.

[~Bitcoin~]

I have heard somewhere even quantum computer is not a real threat for bitcoin/blockchain technology because till that time all other technological systems should be upgraded to make it unbreakable by QC so bitcoin network will also be upgraded by that time to withstand and to be operational even when QC get out in the real world.

[ebliever]

I have heard somewhere even quantum computer is not a real threat for bitcoin/blockchain technology because till that time all other technological systems should be upgraded to make it unbreakable by QC so bitcoin network will also be upgraded by that time to withstand and to be operational even when QC get out in the real world.

My point in citing this article was to raise the question: Has that time now come to act, or at least get the ball rolling in some meaningful way?

We spent a lot of time discussing block size and transaction volumes here while bottlenecks on bitcoin xfer volume were hypothetical. I was just over at blockchain.info looking at recent blocks and the bottleneck is no longer hypothetical. Yet we are still waiting for segwit to roll out, much less any change to block size. I'm afraid a similar talk-but-no-action scenario could arise with QC, with disastrous results.

[Sir Alpha_goy]

This alone could render blockchain tech useless.

[chesatochi]

The progress will never end and security will evolve as the same speed. In 10 years the security will evolve and even with quantum technology, I think it will be almost impossible to compromise the bitcoin security.

When we face a new challenge, we found always a new solution.

[franky1]

QC has limitations.

solving binary logic problems QC doesnt handle well.. expect a 2x 'efficiency' rate
so things like SHA.. dont expect much efficiency of being brute forced by a QC system.

but things like ECDSA that can have deeper efficiency of being brute forced by a QC system.25-256x efficiency.

the thing is though. the cycle rate of a QC CPU compared to a binary based CPU right now has not much difference. so its going to take a while for something desktop PC size to outperform a PC.

QC computers has along time before its truly scaled to compete.

[Milkduds]

Just finished this magazine and was more interested in the top 50 fintech companies,think those are more in line with bitcoin and its current failings in the lending sphere. Recommend the read if you have time.


Its really exciting to think that we are pushing this into overdrive and the concepts are going to start flying out of the wood work in such a short time.
Medical advancements will go through the roof and we can enter the body modification for more functional living.
The crypto world may need to re-draft all together but I think we can cross that bridge when it comes,say 5 years at the earliest?
I like this field of creating totally new materials,its a real great time to be alive.

The question you put out is more in how fast you think they can achieve this and I think we are still dealing with a decent amount of time to adjust to it. Bitcoin is well positioned for say the next step into virtual reality and I think that aspect will blow the roof off once we combine it with Quantum computing.

[odolvlobo]

QC has limitations.

solving binary logic problems QC doesnt handle well.. expect a 2x 'efficiency' rate
so things like SHA.. dont expect much efficiency of being brute forced by a QC system.

but things like ECDSA that can have deeper efficiency of being brute forced by a QC system.25-256x efficiency.

the thing is though. the cycle rate of a QC CPU compared to a binary based CPU right now has not much difference. so its going to take a while for something desktop PC size to outperform a PC.

QC computers has along time before its truly scaled to compete.

Current estimates say that SHA-256 and ECC will be broken in less than 20 years, assuming that current hurdles are overcome and the number of qubits double every year.

[MingLee]

The world may soon be dominated by quantum computing, according to that guy, but he needs to have something to back up such a bold prediction. We're still struggling when it gets to actually getting a quantum computer to give off outputs from decent amounts of inputted data. Right now it's not looking like something that will be working anytime soon.

15 pounds cars, interesting proposition, poor realistic application. I would assume they would have to be electric if anything.

[calkob]

A Quantum Computing-Dominated World Is Coming In Less Than 10 Years, Says CEO Of Acronis

http://www.forbes.com/sites/nanhiein/2016/08/15/a-quantum-computing-dominated-world-is-coming-in-less-than-10-years-says-ceo-of-acronis/amp/

An interesting article on quantum computing, claiming that developments are coming quickly in this area. My understanding is that while bitcoin is not wholly broken by the availability of quantum computers, there would be some things that need to be addressed. I hate to distract from transaction capacity improvements, but does this need to start moving up on someone's to-do list?

There is some brief discussion of cryptography most of the way through the article, but only from the standpoint that greater privacy can be achieved with QC. That sounds hopeful, as until now I'd only heard of QC in the context of breaking existing password-based protections.

Yeah this has been asked before, and the 1st reaction has to be this.  If QC goes main stream, bitcoin security is going to be the least of your worries,  every single encryption method we have will be open for business. 

[larryfromjapan]

How difficult would it be to go to biometric security. Isnt that the solution? Me thinks so.

[franky1]

How difficult would it be to go to biometric security. Isnt that the solution? Me thinks so.

lol biometrics. nope thats not a solution, thats:
worse than a password.
better then a 4 digit pin number/door code

sorry but the entropy of biometrics is weak.
also it starts locking funds to someones identity. forever, you cant just move funds to a different password/privkey
lastly brute forcing the entropy of biometrics is easier than you think. its less entropy than 256bit

put it this way. people are put in prison for matching just 9 points of reference of a fingerprint

[BitcoinBarrel]

Are quantum computers even a reality? Seems like a lot of talk and NO actual demonstration.

Wouldn't be surprised if Quantum Mechanics is just a theory that people started accepting as truth. Probably never going to exist.

[shinratensei_]

QC has limitations.

solving binary logic problems QC doesnt handle well.. expect a 2x 'efficiency' rate
so things like SHA.. dont expect much efficiency of being brute forced by a QC system.

but things like ECDSA that can have deeper efficiency of being brute forced by a QC system.25-256x efficiency.

the thing is though. the cycle rate of a QC CPU compared to a binary based CPU right now has not much difference. so its going to take a while for something desktop PC size to outperform a PC.

QC computers has along time before its truly scaled to compete.

Current estimates say less than 20 years before SHA-256 and ECC are broken.

It means if SHA 2 family will be broken too.

[franky1]

QC has limitations.

solving binary logic problems QC doesnt handle well.. expect a 2x 'efficiency' rate
so things like SHA.. dont expect much efficiency of being brute forced by a QC system.

but things like ECDSA that can have deeper efficiency of being brute forced by a QC system.25-256x efficiency.

the thing is though. the cycle rate of a QC CPU compared to a binary based CPU right now has not much difference. so its going to take a while for something desktop PC size to outperform a PC.

QC computers has along time before its truly scaled to compete.

Current estimates say less than 20 years before SHA-256 and ECC are broken.

It means if SHA 2 family will be broken too.

but ECC is more vulnerable than SHA256.  not the other way round.
but bitcoin can adapt. new keypairs will be introduced using different curves and higher hash security

[shinratensei_]

QC has limitations.

solving binary logic problems QC doesnt handle well.. expect a 2x 'efficiency' rate
so things like SHA.. dont expect much efficiency of being brute forced by a QC system.

but things like ECDSA that can have deeper efficiency of being brute forced by a QC system.25-256x efficiency.

the thing is though. the cycle rate of a QC CPU compared to a binary based CPU right now has not much difference. so its going to take a while for something desktop PC size to outperform a PC.

QC computers has along time before its truly scaled to compete.

Current estimates say less than 20 years before SHA-256 and ECC are broken.

It means if SHA 2 family will be broken too.

new keypairs will be introduced using different curves and higher hash security

Which means, designing a new address will exit from SHA-2. The current address was generating from SHA-2.
But a lot of speculation was saying if SHA-2 was already in the orange area when the Satoshi nakamoto has made bitcoin.
I may think if they were knowing about this.

[yayayo]

The headline is a bit misleading. I think the Acronis CEo says that within 10 years there will be real world use of Quantum Computing, however this doesn't mean the world will be "dominated" by it at that time. I agree that advances in Quantum Computing should be monitored closely by Bitcoin developers to be prepared to take appropriate action well in advance.

One reason for the huge advances in the field are the projects of various three letter agencies, that received huge funding to break encryption. This is a serious threat, especially because a breakthrough could remain undiscovered.

Off-topic note: It is funny how people can be very intelligent in some respects, and then very foolish in others. Near the end of the article it claims QC could lead to ultralight cars that only weigh 15 kg.  Speaking as an auto engineer in Illinois, this immediately gives rise in my mind to visions of cars rolling across the landscape like tumbleweeds on the first windy day.  

You forgot about the passengers. Sitting on tumbleweeds prevents them from rolling. And cars could be chained to trees when parked, for example...

ya.ya.yo!

[Wind_FURY]

This alone could render blockchain tech useless.

Actually quantum computing technology can make blockchains stronger. Can you imagine how harder it will be to crack if quantum computing is implemented in Proof of Work? It might more so make PoW more efficient, using less power but make the cryptography part more robust. Surely there will be more positives than negatives.