Blockchains vs Quantum Computing - Technology update

Are Quantum Computers a Threat to The Blockchain System?

You have probably heard of quantum computers before. Quantum computers will be significantly faster than any other conventional computers that we have seen so far. Quantum computers work at the particle level, exploiting complex quantum phenomena to drastically boost performance. But what does that have to do with blockchain technology?

Well, blockchains are not infinitely secure. They are secure from the point of view of currently available computers. But theoretically, someone could break their encryption. After all, it is just a very, very hard math problem, with too many calculations for normal computers to break. With significantly more computing power, we could recalculate the keys and crack the encryption. Lucky for us, machines capable of that are not yet commercially available.

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Quantum computers

Now, let’s talk about quantum computers. They already exist. IBM [IBM], Microsoft [MSFT], and Google [GOOGL] all have one. Most of these are still very small and not used primarily as development models. We measure their processing power in qubits. Qubits are difficult to translate into normal bits. That is because for some operations they are as fast as normal bits and for other types of computations, they are orders of magnitude faster. The fastest quantum computer today has 72 qubits, which was built by Google. It is currently undergoing tests and the engineers claim that it will be fast enough to demonstrate the quantum. That would be the point at which a quantum computer becomes faster than any traditional supercomputer. From a technical perspective, they are a revolution.

Normal computers use bits. Bits can be either 1 or 0. Qubits can also be anything in between, as they can be both at the same time but with different probabilities. This property is called superposition. It means that Qubits can store much more information at once. As a result, quantum computers can compute certain things much faster.

What is the biggest obstacle right now?

There are many challenges, one of which is cooling. They need to be close to absolute 0, which is -273 degrees Celsius. This is because there are a lot more quantum states than just 0 and 1. To accurately measure what state we are dealing with, we need to take out variations. And that is easier at lower temperatures, because electrons move slower. This requirement makes them very expensive and cumbersome. But these hurdles will be overcome.

Blockchain vs. quantum computers

As soon as quantum computers become popular, we might have a problem. Private and public keys are used to secure blockchains. Three mathematical problems are used for their encryption, and all three of them share one crucial property. By knowing their input (encryption key), it is easy to create their output. But with only their output available, it is very hard to guess their input. At least for now.

Quantum computers will have enough processing power to reverse those calculations in a much shorter time than conventional computers. Quantum computers could crack regular encryption standards even by brute force, running through each mathematical combination one-by-one.

So, what do we do?

Well, there are multiple suggestions. One is to add a safe quantum layer to current blockchains. A safe quantum layer means that we can keep using blockchain encryptions as we do now. Another suggestion would be to use quantum blockchains. That is a blockchain that is built specifically for quantum computers.

However, then all nodes of the blockchain would have to be used by quantum computers as well. That would require a quantum network to connect these nodes. It would be a robust approach but might take a while to realize. I have one thought to calm you down: the good news is, quantum computers would affect all encryption layers on the internet. Emails, chats, websites, hospitals, banks, and servers are all secured in similar ways. It is fair to say that all of mankind is therefore in the same boat. That is why hopes are high, that we will develop quantum safe encryption before quantum computers become a real threat. The idea is always to make encryptions so hard to crack, that it would be too costly to try so. Governmental organizations are already paying attention. They started investing in developing quantum-proof security. One such player is, for example, the European Union. On the bright side, there are already some solutions. NEO and IOTA have already announced that they are developing quantum-safe encryption. Cardano is soon to follow suit. Many crypto projects have quantum security on their roadmap, but it will take a few years until this is relevant. That is why most blockchain projects still have it quite low on their priority list.