Does quantum computing affects Bitcoin?

[JaimeAlejandro]

Hi to eveyone,

I just wanted to ask to the experts what influence could have the so-called quantum computing on Bitcoin. I have recently read this article: https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/quantum-computing-important-atomic-bomb-expert. They do not mention BTC in this article, but I would like to know if this type of computing mentioned here could affect BTC protocol in some way. In the article you can find statements as ““It will be easy for such a device to decrypt all of the existing public encryption systems. In other words, such a device will be able to wipe out any kind of encryption that currently exists today in order to extract whatever kind of data, classified or otherwise, that it wants to get its access to.”

This article could have even been promoted to deter newcomers to BTC. The usual tactics of fiat money institutions that behave as octopuses extending their tentacles to everything and everywhere.
I have found this article talking about it: https://coincentral.com/quantum-computing-bitcoin/. The author does not think there’s a real threat in the long run as measures could be taken to modify BTC protocol (soft fork).

Still, I would like to have developers and BTC experts’ opinion on this issue.

I’m well aware that when media talks about technology, they usually miss the scalability of new inventions. So many of the so call “inventions” won’t be possible to scale to real use (they are just science fiction articles). It is happening with new battery technologies, materials, AI, and many other fields.

Any feedback on this?

Thanks

[naira]

There is a discussion that I think has sufficient knowledge quality to answer about how quantum computing works is Mr. Hydrogen. I think so far he has more knowledge than us. I think he will explain it to you very clearly. However, there are a few threads I think he could review that he created.
See here https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5397929.msg60088055#msg60088055

[Lucius]

We have already established countless times that quantum computers as they are today, and as they will be in the near future, cannot threaten Bitcoin. Such computers are still far too weak to be considered a threat at all. Unfortunately, too many people for some reason think the exact opposite, even though information pointing to the absurdity of such claims is publicly available.

Webber’s team calculated that breaking bitcoin’s encryption in a 10-minute window would require a quantum computer with 1.9 billion qubits, while cracking it in an hour would require a machine with 317 million qubits. Even allowing for a whole day, this figure only drops to 13 million qubits. This is reassuring news for bitcoin owners because current machines have only a tiny fraction of this – IBM’s record-breaking superconducting quantum computer has only 127 qubits, so devices would need to become a million times larger to threaten the cryptocurrency, something Webber says is unlikely to happen for a decade.

[Flexystar]

Yeah the Quantum computing methodology to breaking the code of blockchain has been really Topic of interest. Really had endless discussion on it as stated by @lucius. I am more concerned about the question why would they wanna waste heavy energy on superconductors and quantum chips rather than just building more advanced version of ASICS , mine the coins and be happy about it. Lolz.

Using Quantum computers to break the encryption is like intentionally creating nuclear bomb even though scientists knew it would bring more disaster rather than Nobel use case.

At least that’s what history lessons tells me.

Better create Quantum version which is more revealing rather than evils.

[PX-Z]

Besides from different views and discussion, bitcoin and cryptocurrency who will not be the one get affected but all those technology who use the same encryption and technology like banks and internet which is a huge threat than affecting bitcoin and blockchains. So i suggest to stop being paranoid of quantom tech, it's possible but not with today's tech.

[BitcoinBarrel]

Quantum computers are a theory or science fiction at best.

[o_e_l_e_o]

I would suggest you use the search function - this question has been asked and answered countless times already.

The summary is as follows:

• One day, several decades from now, quantum computers might be able to reverse a known public key in to its associated private key. This puts any coins in reused addresses at risk, and any coins in certain address types at risk. Long before this happens, bitcoin will move to a quantum resistant algorithm to mitigate this. The biggest impact will be any coins which don't move to the new quantum resistant algorithm being stolen and then re-entering the market. There might be some short term price fluctuations.
• One day even further from now, quantum computers might be able to challenge or overtake ASICs in how fast they can mine new blocks. This doesn't really matter since the difficulty will automatically adjust to compensate for this, as it does already. We could also move to a quantum resistant mining algorithm is needed.
• If we are at a point where quantum computers can realistically threaten bitcoin, then they will already be able to threaten the encryption used on most of the internet, meaning all online communication, all online commerce, and all online banking activities would be at risk. Bitcoin would be the least of your worries.

[Phu Juck]

It does but Bitcoin developers are very intelligent and once it will be a problem for Bitcoin, it will be solved.
It is just not needed right now.

Quantum computers are a theory or science fiction at best.

It's already tested but it won't happen from today to tomorrow.
Bitcoin developers will have time to create a solution.

[JaimeAlejandro]

Thanks everyone. Quantum computing sounds to me more like science fiction than anything else. I just wanted to know other people's opinions.
I do not take anything for granted. I like to survey what others have to say.

[n0nce]

Thanks everyone. Quantum computing sounds to me more like science fiction than anything else. I just wanted to know other people's opinions.
I do not take anything for granted. I like to survey what others have to say.

It's not science fiction; it's real, it's just in a very, very early stage and it's very, very hard to increase the size of these chips.
Think of it like the 1946 ENIAC compared to a modern smartphone. It is a real computer, it is just orders of magnitude less capable, but it is Turing complete and not science fiction at all.



It simply took multiple decades for computers to advance and start to become common and capable, actually useful machines.
Even though it was much simpler to scale transistors than to scale qubits and there were no thermal challenges.

[Hamza2424]

Might be but its a theory no any practical experience has been occur yet so feel safe and Quantum Technology is like a fictional character. I know today or tomorrow we are going to jump into it but on commercial level Quantum Technology is not usable as in personal and commercial levels no high computation is required as its required in Research projects more importantly its replacement of Super computers.

[BlackHatCoiner]

The author does not think there’s a real threat in the long run as measures could be taken to modify BTC protocol (soft fork).

Solution to the danger(s) coming from quantum computing won't probably be a soft fork-- and that's a good thing. A soft fork means previously valid rules are made invalid, forming a network of old and new nodes, in which old nodes still recognize these rules as valid. But making secp256k1 useless means old clients are vulnerable to have their public keys reversed, therefore running an old client posses a huge risk-- essentially nullifies security.

Hard forks, if implemented correctly, can make the system work more efficiently and properly if all the users benefit from it.