Google paper reveals quantum computing threat to cryptocurrency

A paper published by Google indicates that a quantum computer with 500,000 qubits could be used to steal cryptocurrency, a significantly lower threshold than previously believed, according to a recent report by Silicon Angle.

The paper highlights that many digital currencies rely on elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) for security. While ECC is currently secure due to the immense computational power required to break its encryption, a quantum computer could bypass it. Google researchers determined that a quantum machine with 500,000 superconducting qubits, a type of qubit that utilizes quantum phenomena for faster calculations, could break the specific ECC implementation used by Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, known as secp256k1, in mere minutes. This estimate is substantially lower than the 10 million qubits previously thought necessary. Google has developed an algorithm to demonstrate this vulnerability but has not released it publicly, instead providing a zero-knowledge proof for verification.

This revelation underscores the urgent need for the cryptocurrency industry to transition to post-quantum cryptography. These new algorithms use more complex mathematical structures, such as multi-dimensional lattices with deliberate errors, to resist quantum attacks.

Source: Silicon Angle