Comment on Fear that quantum computing is on the cusp of cracking cryptocurrency's encryption spurs a global investment firm to remove Bitcoin from recommendations

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pulsewidth@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

Businesses that have smart leaders are already implementing (or have already completed implementing) post-quantum encryption systems into their business to protect them for when quantum computers and quantum programming mature and make their existing encryption defeatable. For most systems it’s just a matter of a software update and re-encrypting any data.

Eg: arstechnica.com/…/why-signals-post-quantum-makeov…

This is a problem for public proof-of-work systems that cannot change their encryption, eg: all crypto. Bitcoin cannot change how their coins are encrypted without redesigning and completely rebuilding their public blockchain - it would require concensus from all major bitcoin users and businesses (coin exchanges etc), and could potentially leave any prior-minted bitcoin vulnerable anyway. It will not happen anytime soon - and when it does happen, it may be too late.

Hence, its actually pretty high on the list of quantum targets, and will likely be attacked as soon as it’s available. Some people might be able to steal a bunch of Bitcoin and exchange it for other new (secure) coins or for cash, and get out before the Bitcoin public realize its been cracked. At which time the Bitcoin price will crash hard and may not recover (depending on what action they take to resolve the issue), so the cautious are getting out asap.

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