Is this the end of Bitcoin Encryption?

[Senor.Bla]

Don't worry even with quantum computing there already exists encryption algorithms that in theory those computers will not be able to break

this is my point exactly. there are different forms of encryption and not all of them are easy to break with a quantum computer. if necessary bitcoin can quickly adopt and to be honest there are more lucrative goals then bitcoin once you can crack the encryption.
but wait there is more. there are quite a lot of addresses so this also gives you even more protection.

[drwtsn32]

If this happened I don't think our governments would let this to the hands of bad guys.
This will surely be dangerous not only to bitcoin but to all other important things in the world.
I think that the security must evolve too. We must think of a better encryption than SHA256.

[Senor.Bla]

If this happened I don't think our governments would let this to the hands of bad guys.
This will surely be dangerous not only to bitcoin but to all other important things in the world.
I think that the security must evolve too. We must think of a better encryption than SHA256.

first of all there is better encryption than SHA256 and there will be improvements in the future.
but i wonder which government do you mean? since everybody and state will want to have such a thing a the bad guy are not just criminals but often different states or the opposition. so do not worry about bitcoin. your coins are safe, but maybe not the safety of your county.

[BADecker]

If this happened I don't think our governments would let this to the hands of bad guys.
This will surely be dangerous not only to bitcoin but to all other important things in the world.
I think that the security must evolve too. We must think of a better encryption than SHA256.

The government is the BIGGEST of the bad guys.   

[BADecker]

Another question:
Would this thing be able to mine bitcoins?
And how fast would that be?
If it has such a high calculation capacity, maybe you could earn more by mining than renting it would cost you.

Great idea!

Any computer that could connect parallel universes could be used to mine bitcoins faster than ever. The whole structure of Bitcoin Core would have to change to avoid a special advantage to QCs. But how can you make a Bitcoin Core that would run on ASICs and QCs equally. Is this the end of Bitcoin?

[amacar2]

Actually what those quantum computer can do in real life is still not identified so i don't think we have to start worrying about bitcoin security. It may take decades or even centuries when this quantum computer can be threat to bitcoin or by that time bitcoin will find a way to match quantum computer level security.

[calkob]

These tings are usually 1 trick ponies and when actually explained are not capable of anything complex.

[coinoclock]

it will take a lot more time to develop and this is time we can use to improve and protect bitcoin, so i don't worry for now.

[kryptqnick]

As far as I understand, there is some kind of a prototype of a real quantum computer, but there is still no such thing that can solve tasks extremely fast. So, basically, nowadays bitcoin is not in danger. If scientists succeed in this project completely, then cryptocurrencies will die. However, I am not sure if it is so. Can't someone develop something more complicated? Something hard enough for a quantum computer? Or is it really impossible?

[calkob]

Its simple, if history has shown anything.  no one holds the technological advance for long, if some government develops quantum computing then they will need to develop quantum security which bitcoin can adopt as its security.  if the US get it first, it wont be long before Russia have it and then the russians or the chinese......  

[BADecker]

Its simple, if history has shown anything.  no one holds the technological advance for long, if some government develops quantum computing then they will need to develop quantum security which bitcoin can adopt as its security.  if the US get it first, it wont be long before Russia have it and then the russians or the chinese......  

The problem with Bitcoin adopting the new security is, it will have to be a new Bitcoin, because the old one will have been broken before it has a chance to adopt and adapt.

[BADecker]

The only salvation for the current Bitcoin that I see is this. If the whole fiat money system goes down the tubes before Quantum Computing becomes capable of cracking Bitcoin, advancements may have to stop for lack of funding. Yet the current Bitcoin might ride current technology, which just might remain online, even if there is a financial collapse.

[franky1]

the thing with D-wave is this..

once you wash away all the alternative realities and unicorns(yes he subtly implies unicorns near the end of his horse-plane metaphor).. you start to wonder why is he not just explaining the technology logically..

the reason is at the crux of it, d-wave is actually simple to understand..
its not any magic. its not any parellel universes its simply this.

binary is just a 1 or 0. stored on flashcards or transmitted as either 0 volts and 1 volt (in simple terms) actually its more like 1volt is a whole byte and 0.8volt is decimal 204 of 256, 0.6volt is decimal 152 of 256.

here it is explained in terms of CCD camera's storing the brightness of greyscale (from black to white)
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=mcE4Oq9bYMUC&pg=PA22&lpg=PA22#v=onepage

now D-wave is just the same thing.
imagine 0 volts was binary 0 and 1volt was binary1. now D-wave has an algo that treats 0.5volt as their cough magic cough.

they say its their third dimension 'both on and off' but in reality its just 3 possibilities instead of 2.

so now they can do logic tests of not just
no, yes.. but.. no, maybe and yes
true, false.. but.. true, 'i refuse to answer', false
on, off.. but.. on, dimly lit, off

D-wave just doesnt know how to use it, and are going to spend years trying to work out how to make this 3rd choice useful.

in my eyes it just turns one byte from 256 possibilities into 6561 possibilites

imagine it for IP addresses
256.256.256.256 only allows 4,294,967,296 possibilities using 32 bits
6561.6561.6561 allows 282,429,536,481 (70x more) possibilities using just 24 bits(each measured at 3 voltages instead of 2)

technically i think d-wave are not measuring (simple terms) 0v,0.5v, 1v.. but 0v,0.33v, 0.66v, 1v.. to have 4 options.. i say this because
bi=2 tri=3 qu=4  (think square, 4 corners) so qubit sounds to 4 options not just 3, just because of how they named it...

making one byte(measured at 4 voltages instead of 2) goes from 256 possibilities to 65536

so imagining IP addresses
65536.65536 allows 4,294,967,296 possibilities using only 16 bits(each measured at 4 voltages instead of 2)

if only the D-wave guy would stop talking about the mystisism of alternative realities and stuck with logic. then by now he would have found some real world applications of this new way of storing data and solving logic problems

hex for instance instead of being stored as 2 hex per byte. it can be stored as 4 hex per byte
binary F = 1111
qubit F = 44

so in a byte binary 11111111 = FF
in a qubit 11111111=FFFF

[chousbwxx]

even if the power of this quantum computer is enough to break bitcoin encryption is not the end because this computer is not available to public or hackers to hack bitcoin.

and also if i am not mistaken we can move to a stronger encryption other than sha256

But the price will be dumped hard because if there is decryption for one private key, it will decryption for many other private keys. There is possible way to crack bitcoin, then the fate ain't good any more.

[Senor.Bla]

Its simple, if history has shown anything.  no one holds the technological advance for long, if some government develops quantum computing then they will need to develop quantum security which bitcoin can adopt as its security.  if the US get it first, it wont be long before Russia have it and then the russians or the chinese......  

The problem with Bitcoin adopting the new security is, it will have to be a new Bitcoin, because the old one will have been broken before it has a chance to adopt and adapt.

The bitcoin devs don’t need to wait until quantum computing becomes a threatening reality, these developments don’t happen overnight so the devs will have enough time to think of solutions, like applying crypto impossible to break even for a quantum computer and maybe others types of solutions.

right. also there already are ways of encryption that are safe from the current quantum computer and the ones in the near future, so bitcoin could adapt very very fast and before something happens. but right now there is absolutely no reason to waist the developers time on this.

[ethereumhunter]

i think quantum computer is really important than to just for mining bitcoin because there are more lot to do with that super computer. the government at least will use this for the other purpose, i don't what it is. but i think they will made one computer that will be the same as the quantum computer for public and they will keep quantum computer for their main purpose.

beside that, the bitcoin devs will always prepare of something new especially about technology that will always grow fast than we can imagine. so maune CIA will use it for their experiment and not share their result as they will use the result for another experiment. this is just in my mind.

[Capradina]

Its simple, if history has shown anything.  no one holds the technological advance for long, if some government develops quantum computing then they will need to develop quantum security which bitcoin can adopt as its security.  if the US get it first, it wont be long before Russia have it and then the russians or the chinese......  

The problem with Bitcoin adopting the new security is, it will have to be a new Bitcoin, because the old one will have been broken before it has a chance to adopt and adapt.

The bitcoin devs don’t need to wait until quantum computing becomes a threatening reality, these developments don’t happen overnight so the devs will have enough time to think of solutions, like applying crypto impossible to break even for a quantum computer and maybe others types of solutions.

right. also there already are ways of encryption that are safe from the current quantum computer and the ones in the near future, so bitcoin could adapt very very fast and before something happens. but right now there is absolutely no reason to waist the developers time on this.

It is indeed appropriate. That all computers already have enskripso which is very safe and very secure. Bitcoin can also adapt to all the things that will happen in the future and also very against following the path of technological change that is happening. It is a very good thing

[Jeremycoin]

But with this kind of invention on the hacking system, surely there will also be invented a new and better encryption system that will make Bitcoin more unhackable.

[dunfida]

But with this kind of invention on the hacking system, surely there will also be invented a new and better encryption system that will make Bitcoin more unhackable.

True,  if theres a new invented  on hacking system but  we should expect that  theres also a new encryption for sure in the future same as you said. In bitcoin for sure it would be developed more i guess which  puts more encryption even those new inventions cant  decrypt it.

[Pursuer]

But with this kind of invention on the hacking system, surely there will also be invented a new and better encryption system that will make Bitcoin more unhackable.

True,  if theres a new invented  on hacking system but  we should expect that  theres also a new encryption for sure in the future same as you said. In bitcoin for sure it would be developed more i guess which  puts more encryption even those new inventions cant  decrypt it.

yes, there are stronger encryptions available right now but there is no point in changing anything today because first of all what OP is saying is about one Quantum computer which I am sure it has far more important stuff to do rather than trying to break encryption of a bitcoin address and steal its balance.