Ethereum could begin adding post-quantum protections to accounts for as little as $0.07, without waiting for a hard fork, according to the Ethereum Foundation’s Kohaku project lead Nicolas Consigny.<\/p>\n
In a Saturday X post<\/a>, Consigny shared a paper<\/a> proposing a cheaper way for Ethereum users to protect their accounts against future quantum-computing threats. The approach adapts SPHINCS+, a post-quantum signature standard developed by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology, to work more efficiently on Ethereum. <\/p>\n Dubbed \u201cSPHINCS-,\u201d the proposal aims to reduce onchain verification costs without requiring a protocol change or precompile. Consigny described SPHINCS- as a bridge toward a future post-quantum signature system dubbed \u201cleanSPHINCS,\u201d which aims to further reduce verification costs through aggregation.<\/p>\n The proposal seeks to address the long-term risk of a quantum threat to Ethereum’s Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm with a cost-efficient solution that may be deployed before a dedicated hard fork is developed.<\/p>\n \n Signature scheme SPHINCs variant security degradation and onchain verification costs. Source: <\/em>Ethresearch.ch<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Related: <\/strong><\/em>Adam Back says Bitcoin\u2019s post-quantum shift may reveal true Satoshi stash<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n In April, post-quantum startup Project Eleven awarded a prize to researcher Giancarlo Lelli for using a quantum computer to break a 15-bit elliptic-curve key<\/a>.<\/p>\n Bitcoin\u2019s keys are 256 bits long, significantly larger than the 15-bit key Lelli managed to crack. He derived the private key from a public key paired to it, using a variant of Shor\u2019s algorithm, a quantum computing technique that theoretically poses a threat to the type of cryptography used by Bitcoin.<\/p>\n According to Glassnode, about 1.92 million Bitcoin, representing nearly 10% of the total supply, are considered \u201cstructurally unsafe\u201d<\/a> in a future quantum attack scenario. Another 4.12 million BTC, or 20.6% of the supply, are classified as \u201coperationally unsafe\u201d due to key or address management practices.<\/p>\n \n Source: <\/em>Glassnode<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n The analytics company estimates that the remaining 69.8% of the supply, or 13.99 million Bitcoin, remains unexposed to a quantum computing threat, broadly in line with Ark Invest\u2019s March estimate<\/a> that 65% of the supply was safe.\u00a0<\/p>\nFuture quantum computing threats stirs crypto community<\/h2>\n
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