<\/p>\n
The challenge to solving the quantum threat to Bitcoin could be more social than technical, according to Grayscale\u2019s head of research, especially if the community fails to come to an agreement on certain contentious issues.<\/p>\n
Google released a paper<\/a> that shook the crypto industry on March 30, suggesting that a quantum computer could potentially crack the cryptography protecting Bitcoin (BTC<\/a>) using far fewer resources than previously thought.<\/p>\n Grayscale head of research Zach Pandl, however, suggested<\/a> the problem for Bitcoin doesn\u2019t come from its technical solution, as \u201cbitcoin has lower risk than other cryptocurrencies\u201d because it uses a UTXO model and proof-of-work consensus, does not have native smart contracts and certain address types are not quantum vulnerable.<\/p>\n Instead, the challenge would be for the community to reach a decision on the way forward, said Pandl.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Bitcoin community has been fiercely debating what to do about old dormant coins, particularly the roughly 1.7 million BTC locked in early P2PK addresses, including Satoshi\u2019s estimated 1 million BTC stash, currently worth about $68 billion.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Bitcoin community<\/a> needs to decide what to do about coins where the private key has been lost or is otherwise inaccessible, wrote Pandl.\u00a0<\/p>\n They have three main options: burning the coins, deliberately slowing their release by limiting the rate of spending from vulnerable addresses or doing nothing.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAll are conceptually doable, but the challenge is reaching a decision, and the Bitcoin community has a history of contentious debates over protocol changes, including last year\u2019s dispute around image data stored in blocks.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Pandl was referring to a big fracas that erupted in 2023<\/a> over the use of blockspace for Bitcoin Ordinals, technology that enables inscribing data such as text and images to a satoshi, the smallest unit of Bitcoin.\u00a0<\/p>\n Two years later, the debate may have quietened down, but the two sides continue to hold opposing views. <\/p>\n Related: <\/strong><\/em>Researchers say quantum computers could, in theory, be ready by 2030<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Pandl cautioned that it was \u201ctime to get started\u201d and that blockchains need to adopt post-quantum cryptography, echoing the sentiment from Google.\u00a0<\/p>\n Both Solana<\/a> and the XRP Ledger are already experimenting with post-quantum cryptography, wrote Pandl. Meanwhile, the Ethereum Foundation released its post-quantum roadmap<\/a> in February.<\/p>\n Pandl concluded that investors \u201cshould not fret\u201d for now, but it is time to accelerate efforts to prepare for our post-quantum future.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIn our view, there is no security threat to public blockchains from quantum computers today.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Magazine: <\/strong><\/em>Nobody knows if quantum secure cryptography will even work<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n <\/div>\n The challenge to solving the quantum threat to Bitcoin could be more social than technical, according to Grayscale\u2019s head of research, especially if the community fails to come to an agreement on certain contentious issues. Google released a paper that shook the crypto industry on March 30, suggesting that a quantum computer could potentially crack […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":417844,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[235,203,210,234,231,232,237,238,236,233],"class_list":["post-423674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blockchain","tag-bitcoin","tag-crypto-currency","tag-elon-musk","tag-ethereum","tag-hyperledger","tag-ibm","tag-mining","tag-nodes","tag-spacex","tag-tesla"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=423674"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423674\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":423675,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423674\/revisions\/423675"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/417844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The Bitcoin community has three options\u00a0<\/h2>\n
No threat now but time to get started<\/h2>\n