Will Quantum Computers Spell the Doom of Bitcoin?

[Chronobank]

Bitcoin is dead! It has been predicted 112 times already. There is even a website that keeps track of all these obituaries. The latest prophecy predicts the death of Bitcoin once quantum computers make an entry.

This plausible prediction comes at the time when Bitcoin is going strong, rebounding from a recent dip in its price following the BitFinex hacking incident. The threat of quantum computers on Bitcoin was predicted by Andersen Cheng, the co-founder of a UK-based cyber security firm, Post Quantum. He was quoted by a news publication saying

“Bitcoin is definitely not quantum computer proof… Bitcoin will expire the very day first quantum computer appears.”

However, the timeline for the appearance of the first quantum computer is nowhere in sight, at least at the moment. According to Cheng, the quantum computers will threaten Bitcoin’s cryptography by easily backtracking the public keys, which are nothing but Bitcoin wallet addresses to deduce the private key associated with it.  In a likely scenario of that happening, the first quantum computer’s owner may be able to own most, if not all the Bitcoin in circulation.

The research and development of quantum computers is an ongoing process, with the allocation of billions of dollars in funding. Recently, the research into quantum computing in Europe received a significant boost after the European Commission announced a $1.1 billion project to further the cause.

Taking the new prediction into account, the Bitcoin community is preparing itself to counter the threat posed by quantum computers of the future. The solution is to incorporate the already existing quantum cryptography standards into the Bitcoin protocol. Once the community reaches a consensus regarding the inclusion of quantum cryptography standards, the developers can gradually make the shift in a phased manner.

As long as quantum computers don’t make an appearance, the Bitcoin network remains safe. We just have to hope for the developers to upgrade the protocol before someone armed with a quantum computer starts siphoning off Bitcoin from the users by decrypting their private keys.

http://www.newsbtc.com/2016/10/16/will-quantum-computers-spell-doom-bitcoin/

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[OmegaStarScream]

Bitcoin getting destroyed will be probably the least of our problems when those computers are out (for public) . Bitcoin is not the only thing that uses SHA-256 or other hashing algorithms.
Beside , Bitcoin is getting developed each day and I'm pretty sure that at some point ,It would be possible to change the algorithms without screwing everything up. I personally wouldn't be worried about this kind of stuff. To da moon !

[NorrisK]

This has been posted countless times and every time it has been moved aside as unlikely.

Besides, there are far more valuable targets than bitcoin. Imagine gaining access to banks, stock exchanges, corporate secrets, hospital records, etc..

Simply said, a 10 billion dollar thing like bitcoin will be peanuts for someone with the potential computing power.

[MingLee]

Quantum computers will definitely make it a bit more of a challenge to have Bitcoin work the way it was originally intended, however it wouldn't be impossible to modernize the algorithms and security so that is was resistant to the computing power of a quantum machine. For right now, however, it seems unlikely anything will really come out of QC for a while.

[franky1]

quantum computing is not that efficient at solving binary logic problems because it is constrained QC to binary logic.
thus sha256 is not really at big risk due to only being what has been calculated as 2x efficient per process.

however.
quantum computing is able to utilise its new metric more efficiently for issues such as the elliptic curve.

so if i was told QC was up and running and about to try breaking bitcoin.. i would suggest changing ECDSA algo before worrying about SHA
though changing both would be best. but definitely ECDSA first

[Lauda]

However, the timeline for the appearance of the first quantum computer is nowhere in sight, at least at the moment. According to Cheng, the quantum computers will threaten Bitcoin’s cryptography by easily backtracking the public keys, which are nothing but Bitcoin wallet addresses to deduce the private key associated with it.  In a likely scenario of that happening, the first quantum computer’s owner may be able to own most, if not all the Bitcoin in circulation.

Correct. However, for one to have the public keys of an address, the address has to spend coins from it. The reference client is actually inherently "quantum-proof" because it keeps sending any change Bitcoin to a new address. As long as you do not re-use addresses, you *should* be fine.

though changing both would be best. but definitely ECDSA first

That's likely what is going to happen, so I wouldn't worry about "Quantum doomsday" stories like these.

[Mr. Green]

If there is a threat, developers will come up with sha512 or sha1024 instead of sha256. Don't worry the devs will find a way to protect bitcoin.

[Ai7xpressTV]

I do not agree on it:
Because it is on the ground, quantum computers are still in the testing and experimentation stages and still somewhat from the commercial manufacturing stage far.

[Meuh6879]

Miners can afford to pay for the most powered ... chip ... to use to mine.
The industries can not to this before they invent the (customer) demand.

That's why, quantum application will be ... for Bitcoin Network.

[DannyHamilton]

The word quantum does not mean "magic"

Currently BTC is in no danger from quantum computers.

In the future, bitcoin's protocol can be updated to new quantum secure algorithms if quantum computing ever becomes a serious threat to the current algorithms. Therefore, quantum computing will almost certainly never be a realistic threat to BTC.

[calkob]

This has been asked loads of times here already,  and as has already been said basically the internet and all banking or security feature we know will be dead as well so i wouldnt worry.  lets face it the 1st entity to develop usable Quantum computers will probably be a state and the 1st thing they are going to do is develop a security method to protect against quantum computers, because if history has taught us anything there is never usually only one entity trying to develop something.  and theat state will want to defend its info from the next state to get it.

Which means that yeah sha256 is dead but bitcoin will live on with a new hash function which i will name QUM2568900909394809238234889493849089485394530498583675749856794876799949304929 896049568049586809476037059838570938256.

[Wind_FURY]

It will spell the doom for everything. Why would quantum computer using hackers try to break Bitcoin when it could break the banks if they want money. The more political ones can break government and corporate encryption. So if you think everyone is after your precious Bitcoin, you are wrong. Bitcoin is only a drop in the bucket.

[Pursuer]

I don't know what is it with people and quantum computers. it is pretty simple.
lets assume quantum computers can break the cryptography of bitcoin for a second.
now can you buy a quantum computer and put in your desk and start breaking private keys? obviously no.

so who has access to quantum computers? the 3 letter agency that shall not be named
now do you think they are going to waste precious computing power on breaking bitcoin cryptography to find private keys when there are literary thousands and thousands of other things they are concerned with breaking?!

[Ai7xpressTV]

I don't know what is it with people and quantum computers. it is pretty simple.
lets assume quantum computers can break the cryptography of bitcoin for a second.
now can you buy a quantum computer and put in your desk and start breaking private keys? obviously no.

so who has access to quantum computers? the 3 letter agency that shall not be named
now do you think they are going to waste precious computing power on breaking bitcoin cryptography to find private keys when there are literary thousands and thousands of other things they are concerned with breaking?!

Good analysis. Totally i agree with you

[~Bitcoin~]

If there is a threat, developers will come up with sha512 or sha1024 instead of sha256. Don't worry the devs will find a way to protect bitcoin.

Yes actually as being open source bitcoin can be optimized several times in future to make it even secure from quantum computers like threat. Actually i think quantum computer may take few more decades or even centuries to hit market and to be in hand of common people so we have very much time to think about protecting bitcoin network from quantum computers.

[Ai7xpressTV]

Still in the testing phase, of what could become available at the time to worry about from this

[wizzardTim]

Quantum resistance is crucial for the future, that's why the first 3rd gen coin - IOTA - uses DAG instead of blockchain, in order to be safe from quantum computing attacks and be able to scale.

[serjent05]

I don't think having quantum computers means bitcoin is doom.  The security pattern of bitcoin will be improve right before these computer is implemented.  Government and banking system will develop a security resistant to Quantum Computers so as Bitcoin developers too.  So right before         bitcoin being exploited by quantum computers, am sure a counter measure about this predicted attack will be issued.

[Kprawn]

The word quantum does not mean "magic"

Currently BTC is in no danger from quantum computers.

In the future, bitcoin's protocol can be updated to new quantum secure algorithms if quantum computing ever becomes a serious threat to the current algorithms. Therefore, quantum computing will almost certainly never be a realistic threat to BTC.

Danny, do you know if a more secure algorithm have been tested on the Testnet, and if this will have a significant impact on the resources,

if we ever need to switch to a more secure algorithm? What would be the logical alternative? SHA-384 or SHA-512?  The current strongest

encryption algorithms are SHA-512, RIPEMD-320, and Whirlpool. {Not all hashing Algorithms} --> Can someone notify him of this

question, because I am on his ignore list, but still need a answer.. thanks.  

[franky1]

kprawn at the moment sha (any level) is not the target of QC. the real target is something like ECDSA.
this is because sha is more of a binary logic problem which limits QC's efficiency and ability. but ECDSA is a vector problem something QC can solve easier.
 
this means QC can be thousands of times more efficient solving a vector problem compared to a normal computer.
but QC can be only a couple times more efficient at a binary problem compared to a normal computer.

if i had a d-wave system. id prefer to 'crack' ecdsa way before wasting a few lifetimes cracking sha.

but even before worrying about QC. id be looking into solving the LN risk. (of signing using the same key many times a week). after all devs say try not to use the same key more then once due to what it may reveal. so LN has to think that through when developing a method to sign locked funds of a specific keypair.
that is a bigger risk to sort through right now

anyway back to the bitcoin ecdsa problem
my opinion is where each keypair should have its own specific curve rather than everyone using the same y² = x³ + 7. curve. thus adding some more randomness to prevent brute forcing.

but when changing to a new ecdsa mechanism for the keypairs, might aswell change to a different sha level too