Google Quantum Computer Willow Released, Will Bitcoin's Private Keys Be Cracked?
Today, Google released the quantum supercomputer Willow, raising widespread concern and anxiety about the security of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.
Quantum computing is a new type of computing that utilizes the principles of quantum mechanics, using quantum bits (qubits) to replace traditional bits. Unlike traditional bits that can only represent "0" or "1", quantum bits can simultaneously represent both "0" and "1" due to phenomena such as quantum superposition and entanglement, enabling quantum computers to perform multiple calculations at once, potentially solving some problems that current classical computers struggle with.
Willow, as Google's newly launched quantum computing chip, has made certain breakthroughs. It uses 105 quantum bits and demonstrates an exponentially decreasing error rate as the number of quantum bits increases.
In benchmark tests, Willow can solve a standard computational problem in less than 5 minutes, while classical supercomputers would take billions of years to complete.
Bitcoin uses algorithms such as SHA-256 (for mining) and ECDSA (for signatures). Theoretically, these algorithms may become vulnerable in the face of quantum decryption technology.
However, at present, although quantum computing does pose a significant threat to existing security systems, advanced quantum computers like Google's Willow do not yet have sufficient scale or error correction capabilities to immediately crack widely used encryption methods, such as those used in Bitcoin transactions.
Researchers estimate that to crack Bitcoin encryption in one day, approximately 13 million quantum bits would be needed, while Willow only has 105 quantum bits. Even to crack it within one year would require about 340 quantum computers like Willow. Furthermore, running Shor's algorithm to break encryption would require about 5000 logical quantum bits, meaning millions of physical quantum bits would be needed to accomplish this, which current technology levels are far from achieving.
So, although the release of Google's quantum computer Willow has caused a sensation, for now, the security of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies is not likely to face substantial threats from quantum computing.
