The Google Quantum AI team stated that its newly developed quantum computing chip is capable of solving complex problems in five minutes that would take some of the fastest supercomputers about 10 quindecillion years (10 to the 25th power years) to solve. This significant advancement sparked discussions within the crypto community, with one expert noting that it still falls far short of posing a threat to cryptocurrency's encryption technology.

Hartmut Neven, head of Google Quantum AI, stated in a blog post on December 9 that this chip named "Willow" can correct errors exponentially and handle certain computational tasks at an astonishing speed. He wrote:

Neven wrote: "This astonishing number surpasses the known time scales in physics and far exceeds the age of the universe. This discovery supports the view of quantum computing operating in multiple parallel universes, consistent with the hypothesis that we live in a multiverse, a theory first proposed by David Deutsch."

According to Neven, the second major achievement of the team on the Willow chip is the ability to reduce error rates exponentially as the number of qubits increases, overcoming a nearly 30-year "key challenge" in the field of quantum error correction.

Neven stated: "With our latest advances in quantum error correction, we are able to reduce the error rate by half. In other words, we have achieved an exponential reduction in the error rate. This historic achievement in the field is referred to as 'below threshold'—able to reduce the error rate while increasing the number of qubits."

Qubits are the fundamental units of information in quantum computing and are key to achieving quantum computation. The more qubits there are, the stronger the computational power. However, increasing the number of qubits also raises the risk of errors occurring. If the error rate is too high, the computation results become unreliable, producing incorrect outcomes that make the technology difficult to scale for real-world applications.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai stated that Willow is an important step on the company's journey to building "useful quantum computers," with future applications in drug discovery, fusion energy, and battery design. Google hopes to ultimately develop a quantum computer capable of complex computations with error correction. According to its quantum computing roadmap, the company has only completed the second phase of six stages, achieving this milestone in 2023.

Introducing Willow, our new state-of-the-art quantum computing chip with a breakthrough that can reduce errors exponentially as we scale up using more qubits, cracking a 30-year challenge in the field. In benchmark tests, Willow solved a standard computation in <5 mins that would…

— Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai) December 9, 2024

Does Willow pose a threat to encryption technology?

Advancements in quantum computing have long been considered a turning point for the cryptocurrency industry, with computers capable of breaking encryption technology potentially stealing vast amounts of user funds at incredibly fast speeds. Kevin Rose, a former senior product manager at Google, stated on X that Willow currently does not pose a threat to encryption technology.

According to Rose's estimates, cracking Bitcoin's encryption would require a quantum computer with approximately 13 million qubits to achieve decryption within a 24-hour period. In contrast, "Google's Willow chip, while a significant advancement, only contains 105 qubits."

Q: Can Google's Willow crack Bitcoin? Estimates indicate that compromising Bitcoin's encryption would necessitate a quantum computer with approximately 13 million qubits to achieve decryption within a 24-hour period. In contrast, Google's Willow chip, while a significant...

— Kevin Rose (@kevinrose) December 9, 2024

David Marcus, former Facebook executive and CEO of cryptocurrency startup Lightspark, stated that most people may not yet fully understand the significant implications of this breakthrough by Google. According to him, this means that "post-quantum cryptography and encryption technology need to accelerate their development."

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin proposed a method to counter the threat of quantum computing in March of this year, stating that a simple hard fork could solve the issue. He mentioned that the Ethereum network would have to undergo a hard fork, and users would also need to download new wallet software, but only a few users might lose their funds.

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