Could Quantum Computing Compromise Bitcoin?

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Quantum computing advancements pose critical risks to Bitcoin’s encryption, with potential disruptions to cybersecurity systems worldwide, experts emphasize. Updating Bitcoin’s protocols for quantum safety could require up to 305 days, risking severe financial and operational consequences for the network. Bitcoin, surpassing $108,200 at its peak, now faces potential threats from quantum computing advancements. Emerging technology capable of solving complex calculations in minutes, previously requiring billions of years for supercomputers, has raised significant concerns within the research community. Quantum computing’s ability to exploit encryption vulnerabilities heightens risks for Bitcoin and other digital platforms. Carlos Perez-Delgado, a senior lecturer at the University of Kent, highlights the potential for such systems to disrupt encrypted emails and sensitive accounts, creating a broader cybersecurity challenge. “If I had a large quantum computer right now, I could essentially take over all the Bitcoin,” said Carlos Perez-Delgado. At the University of Kent’s School of Computing, researchers examined how Bitcoin can withstand this technological change. Their findings indicated that the most successful protocol update would require 76 days of downtime, which could result in economic losses of $912 million, calculated from the average costs of business interruptions. The Cost of Staying Secure Alternatively, Bitcoin could allocate 25% of its resources to the update while keeping the network functional, albeit at a reduced capacity. However, this compromise would stretch the downtime to a staggering 305 days—over 10 months. This extended timeline could slow transactions and strain Bitcoin’s ecosystem, already criticized for its sluggish processing speeds. Perez-Delgado highlighted the financial and logistical obstacles of an overhaul, noting technology downtime can be highly expensive. The decentralized nature of Bitcoin complicates the process, unlike centralized entities like Google that deploy updates rapidly. Bitcoin needs consensus from its vast network of 275 million users. “Bringing your technology down…can be very, very costly, even…