Original title: What Does Google's Quantum Computing Chip Mean for Bitcoin?
Original author: Shaurya Malwa
Original source: https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2024/12/10/what-does-googles-quantum-computing-chip-mean-for-bitcoin
Compiled by: Tom, Mars Finance
What does Google's newly released super-quantum computer Willow mean for the security of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies?
Key points
Quantum computing indeed poses a significant threat to existing security systems.
Bitcoin uses algorithms such as SHA-256 (for mining) and ECDSA (for signing), which may become vulnerable in the face of quantum decryption technology.
But there's no need to rush to sell your cryptocurrencies just yet.
Google's latest quantum computing chip may signal the end of Bitcoin (BTC). This was the view of some when Google released Willow on Monday. This quantum supercomputer can complete tasks in five minutes that some classical supercomputers would take an extremely long time to accomplish—specifically, 10 to the power of 24 years, which is the time of 1 followed by 24 zeros (equivalent to a trillion trillion years).
10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.
This time span far exceeds the entire universe's 13.8 billion years of history. On the surface, such a powerful computer seems to mean that no password is safe anymore, encrypted messages could be intercepted, nuclear weapon codes might be cracked, and almost anything could be unlocked through brute force.
But the situation is not that bleak yet
Although quantum computing does pose a significant threat to existing security systems, it is not yet the universal key to 'breaking the cosmic code'. At least at this stage, Bitcoin does not face an imminent threat.
What is quantum computing?
Quantum computing utilizes the principles of quantum mechanics, using quantum bits (qubits) instead of traditional bits.
Unlike traditional bits that can only represent '0' or '1', quantum bits can represent both '0' and '1' simultaneously due to phenomena like quantum superposition and entanglement. This allows quantum computers to perform multiple calculations at once, potentially solving problems that are difficult for classical computers.
Willow's breakthrough
Willow utilized 105 qubits and demonstrated exponentially decreasing error rates as the number of qubits increased. According to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, this is a key step towards building practical large-scale quantum computers.
“We launched Willow, a state-of-the-art quantum computing chip that achieves exponential error reduction by using more qubits, overcoming a 30-year challenge in the field of quantum computing. In benchmarks, Willow solved a standard computational problem in under 5 minutes, while classical supercomputers would take billions of years to complete.”
——Sundar Pichai on Twitter, December 9, 2024
Bitcoin uses algorithms such as SHA-256 (for mining) and ECDSA (for signing), which may have vulnerabilities in the face of quantum decryption technology. However, the short answer is that even advanced quantum computers like Google's Willow do not have the scale or error correction capabilities to immediately break widely used encryption methods such as RSA, ECC (the encryption algorithm used in Bitcoin transactions), or AES (used for data security).
If quantum computers like Willow reach a scale that can easily factor large integers, they might be able to break these encryption mechanisms, thus threatening wallet security and transaction integrity.
However, this requires quantum computers with millions or even billions of 'qubits', along with extremely low error rates, and these technologies are far beyond current levels.
Google's latest quantum chip is said to have demonstrated 'sub-threshold' error correction capability. Chris Osborn, founder of the Solana ecosystem project Dialect, explained in a post on X (formerly Twitter):
‘Sub-threshold’ is an industry term meaning the conversion of physical qubits (which are often noisy, inefficient, and nearly useless) into ‘logical qubits’. Logical qubits are an abstraction of multiple qubits that allow you to actually perform computations by correcting errors.
Osborn added:
“Running Shor's algorithm to break encryption requires about 5,000 logical qubits. In other words, it needs *millions* of physical qubits to break encryption. Google's chip today: 105 physical qubits.”
Before this, the cryptocurrency industry (as well as other fields) still has time to develop quantum-resistant algorithms. Some industry insiders, including Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, have been calling for updated security measures and tools for the upcoming quantum computing era.
“Quantum computing experts like Scott Aaronson have recently begun to take more seriously the possibility that quantum computers could really play a role in the medium term,” wrote Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin in a technical blog in October, “This impacts the entire Ethereum roadmap: it means that every part of the Ethereum protocol currently relying on elliptic curves needs to be replaced with hash-based or other quantum-resistant alternatives.”
He added at the time: “This also proves that it is reasonable to take a conservative stance regarding the performance assumptions of proof-of-stake design, and that there is an even greater need to actively develop quantum-resistant alternatives.”
To those who are bearish on cryptocurrencies, try again another day.
