PANews December 17 news, according to DL News, last week, Google released its new quantum computing chip Willow, which is 56% higher than the previous chip, making the threat of quantum computers to the cryptocurrency industry more urgent. Scientists predict that if this rate of progress continues, quantum computers may soon allow hackers to steal Bitcoin directly from the holder's wallet. Pierre-Luc Dallaire-Demers, a resident scientist at the University of Calgary, said: "We are about five years away from commercial quantum computers being able to crack the elliptic curve keys that protect Bitcoin wallets." The quantum physicist is not the only one to make this prediction. Several other researchers have previously estimated that quantum computers will threaten Bitcoin within 5 to 10 years.
Dallaire-Demers, who founded a company that provides quantum-resistant cryptographic infrastructure, is referring to Bitcoin's ECDSA 256 cryptography, which uses public-private key pairs to protect addresses and sign transactions. "Cracking these keys is one of the most accessible applications for large-scale quantum computers today," he said. ECDSA 256 is vulnerable to Shor's algorithm, which quickly converts large numbers into prime factors and could crack the private keys behind crypto wallets. However, defending against Shor's algorithm would require fundamental changes to Bitcoin's cryptography.
