Do you remember the recent correction in the market? Well, one of the triggers for the crypto crash was the buildup of suspense around the capabilities of Google's new Willow chip. How is this related to cryptocurrency? Directly. A modern quantum processor can perform calculations in 5 minutes that would take the most powerful supercomputers 10 septillion years (that’s 1 followed by 49 zeros).
This breakthrough raised an important question: can quantum computing put Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies at risk? Willow showed a reduction in errors as qubits were added to the 7×7 array and is capable of performing tasks that classical supercomputers cannot achieve even over the entire existence of the universe. The danger is that all cryptocurrencies are based on elliptic curve cryptography (ECC), which protects data through the computational complexity of solving certain mathematical problems.
In theory, quantum computers could theoretically use Shor's algorithm to solve these tasks significantly faster. However, to break ECC, a quantum computer with at least 1.5 million logical qubits is needed. The Willow chip has only 105 qubits, and that is far from the required level. It will take decades for a truly dangerous chip for cryptographic encryption to appear.
Although the quantum threat to Bitcoin is far off, the crypto community is already developing protection strategies. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is developing standards to protect digital assets from quantum attacks. Bitcoin developers are exploring the possibility of transitioning to quantum-resistant algorithms. Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, spoke about the research on protection against quantum attacks through the study of quantum-resistant cryptographic algorithms.
Some coins, including 1 million BTC allegedly belonging to Satoshi Nakamoto, are stored in a form that reveals public keys. This early version of storage is more vulnerable to quantum attacks. Researchers propose freezing the coins or completely ceasing the use of such transactions.
