Willow’s arrival caused some uneasiness. Google’s quantum computer promises to solve tasks in 5 minutes that would require a supercomputer older than the age of the universe. A turning point that has us seriously rethinking whether our cryptographic systems are ready for what’s to come. It didn’t take long for all eyes to focus on Bitcoin. Is Bitcoin network encryption at risk from quantum computers?

SHA-256 will not be able to compete with quantum computers. The mining algorithm of the Bitcoin network is SHA-256. A 256-bit hashing algorithm whose security relies on the difficulty of finding collisions. On the other hand, we have the ‘Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm’ (ECDSA) algorithm that guarantees the security of transactions.

These two algorithms are considered almost impossible to break by brute force using classical computers. However, when quantum algorithms like Grover’s are used, it is theoretically possible for a quantum computer to compromise this. At the moment this is a long shot and far from technical capability, but it is on the table.

The Bitcoin industry is already attracting attention. “If I had a big quantum computer right now, I could basically take over all of Bitcoin,” says Carlos Perez Delgado, a researcher at the University of Kent’s School of Computing.

In research that can be read on ArXiv, they explain that quantum computers pose a real threat to the Bitcoin network and could compromise security in the next decade.

There is a solution to this. The report not only explains the risk of encryption, but also focuses on explaining what this entails and how much time needs to be invested to prevent network security from being compromised.

If the Bitcoin network wants to prevent quantum computers from breaking the encryption, it will need to update the encryption through an expensive update process.

305 days. If this process was done directly and the entire network was shut down, it would take approximately 76 days. Something unthinkable considering its value. The cost of this scenario will be 912 million dollars.

The alternative they propose is to allocate 25% of the servers to update the protocol, which affects the mining speed but allows the encryption to be updated. This is the figure at which researchers calculated that the Bitcoin network would need to update its encryption system to protect itself against quantum computers.

Bitcoin will not be the first to fall, but it needs to think about its future. We are talking about the Bitcoin network, but many of the encryption algorithms used today will be affected by the arrival of quantum computers. It is not expected to become popular for several years, but quantum cryptography solutions have been in the works for some time.

Like any project that aims to remain relevant for decades to come, it must take into account its arrival. Thanks to research from the University of Kent, we now have an estimate of how much it would cost to update the encryption of the world’s most important cryptocurrency.

in Xataka | Quantum computing threatens to render current encryption systems obsolete: Google is already working to avoid this