Bitcoin developers are frantically protecting the largest bitcoin in the world from the unimaginable danger of quantum decryption as quantum computers nearer to breaking recent cryptography.
A new Bitcoin Development Proposal from Chilean tech Agustin Cruz lists a possible solution that would require a mandatory movement to so-called Quantum-Resistant Address Migration Protocol names to maintain long-term safety against future attacks.
You use a digital signature to prove your ownership of the Bitcoins when you send it. A strong enough quantum computer may be able to decrypt Bitcoin using an ECDSA cryptographic method.
Your open key is kept secret until you use the cash, according to the proposed process. A quantum attacker can’t use your key until it is quickly apparent during a transaction, which means it’s too soon because the coins have now moved.
Users would have to move their Bitcoin from their old, quantum-resistant addresses before a certain date to safeguard the system from possible future quantum attacks, according to the protocol. EDSA stands for Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm, a cryptgraphic technique that makes it possible for just the exclusive key’s owner to sign deals with the Bitcoin target.
The idea that a significant portion of Bitcoin’s value, particularly coins sitting in older addresses where people keys might be exposed, had suddenly become susceptible all at once, Cruz told .” The main concern that pushed me to propose QRAMP was the widespread risk,” Cruz said. Instead of finding ourselves scrambling in a possible future crises, it seemed like the best idea to propose a convention change to address this system risk proactive.
The proposal includes changes to the Bitcoin code, wallets, and monitoring tools, with plans to test everything on testnets, roll it out gradually, and have backup options if anything goes wrong.
The main difficulty with implementing this change, according to Cruz, is social, with any proposal that could lead to network splits or fund losses, known as a hard fork, naturally facing strong opposition.
” It boils down to open dialogue and directly addressing concerns,” I believe. That means clearly contrasting the risks of doing nothing with those of QRAMP, and putting the emphasis on the importance of protecting the network for everyone, Cruz said. Additionally, it means setting a very generous migration timeline to prevent accidental fund loss and ensuring we have robust, user-friendly migration tools built into wallets and supported by exchanges.
Quantum threat to bitcoin
Even though experts predict that even the most advanced classical supercomputers, like the potent El Capitan, would need billions of years to decrypt Bitcoin’s encryption, they warn that upcoming quantum computers could decrypt the cryptographic algorithms securing blockchain networks in a matter of hours.
While quantum computers may still be in development, Cruz argued that the justification for QRAMP lies in the following:” Why wait for the threat to emerge before making plans for it?
” My point of view is really about risk management: A successful quantum attack would have a disastrous impact on Bitcoin and have the potential to undermine its entire value proposition,” Cruz said. Therefore,” the severity warrants proactive preparation, even if the probability appears low in the near term.”
Cruz is not the only person who is raising alarm about quantum threats. Other blockchain ecosystems have raised similar questions. Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, suggested a hard fork to shield Ethereum from similar quantum threats in March 2024.
I contend that, in fact, we are already able to create a fairly straightforward recovery fork in such a circumstance, Buterin wrote. Few users would lose their money, according to the statement,” but the blockchain would have to hard fork and users would have to download new wallet software.”
The strategy included introducing quantum-resistant validation, pausing specific transactions, and reversing blocks after an attack.
In addition, Solana developers released the Winternitz Vault, an optional feature that developers claimed offered quantum resistance, in January. The vault only stores the hash for security and generates 32 private keys, hashes each 256 times to create a public key. The vault receives completely new keys after each transaction.
While blockchain networks are susceptible to potential attacks, some quantum computing experts think the technology is more likely to be employed for mining than for ill-intentional purposes.
Cruz stated that the goal is to” start the conversation right away to ensure Bitcoin stays secure for a long time.”
edited by Andrew Hayward
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