Quantum computer and mining – what are the dangers for cryptocurrencies

Facilities for such computations are under development. In parallel, researchers in quantum physics are trying to increase the speed of interpretation algorithms. Work in this area is taking place at all major research universities, such as MIT (USA) and leading commercial fintech labs at IBM and Google.

Date of emergence

In 1980, American researcher Paul Benioff and Soviet physicist Yuri Manin published the first papers related to the theory of quantum computing. A year later (in 1981), the first prototype of QC was presented, which contained 2 qubits. Its creator was Nobel laureate in physics Richard Feynman. The sample was based on a Turing computer. Further theoretical developments were carried out for more than 10 years. However, practical shifts began after the creation of the algorithm for factorization of numbers, which was described by Shore in 1994.

From that moment, employees of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and later the IBM research department, joined the race to create a working QC model. Various physical objects were chosen as the basis of computation: photons, electrons, cold atoms and others.

The list of realized installations is presented in the table.

Power

Active development of such computations is carried out to solve global problems. The main areas of application are:

• Space industry
• Transportation
• Computer technologies
• Health care
• Investment.

Taking into account the trajectory of movement, the load on materials, natural and human factors, quantum algorithms can optimize fuel consumption in aerospace and transportation logistics. The technology can increase the financial efficiency of the system or conduct engineering calculations in the design of interplanetary ships.

For QC, it is possible to create a new generation of encryption and expand the number of results in the work of artificial intelligence.

Trading, investment risk management, and predicting market behavior are also in the spectrum of possibilities for modeling. Chemistry, pharmacology, and genetics are considered the main reason for multi-billion dollar developments.

The capabilities of such a computer are comparable to evolution. Synthesizing new substances, creating stronger compounds, deciphering the genome. Drug development time takes an average of 5 to 10 years. QC can reduce the creation to 2 years, as well as model chemical formulas and synthesize a remedy for incurable diseases.

What is the danger of quantum computers for mining

There is a threat in so much computing power. Many current methods of encryption and cryptography will become defenseless and compromised. Bitcoin hashing using the SHA-256 algorithm could be cracked by a stable QC with 4 thousand qubits. Such computers have not yet been created. The last effective model for such a task is built with 127 qubits.

Despite the high figure, the interconnection of units is easily broken and requires ideal conditions for the calculations. For example, a random photon that enters the system due to a sealing error can introduce irreparable errors into the calculations.

The more qubits are used, the more unstable their communication is. For 4- and 16-qubit units produced by technology startup Rigatti, the recorded error rates are as high as 8.92% and 16.37%.

How to secure blockchain from quantum threats

According to rough estimates, the creation of a large enough QC will happen in the next 10-15 years. However, it is not enough to have a suitable number of qubits. It is important that the result of calculations can be interpreted in less than 10 minutes. This is due to the SHA-256 vulnerability, which occurs only before the block in the chain is closed.

The moment the interpretation time is less than that, Bitcoin mining will become meaningless. So will most of the digital mining on the Proof-of-Work (PoW) algorithm. In this regard, part of scientists are engaged in the development of methods of post-quantum cryptography. Their foundation is based on such mathematical foundations:

• Encryption on linear codes.
• Lattice theory.
• Algorithms using hash function with stable proofs.

Conclusion

The potential of quantum particles could lead to the next technological revolution. We are now encountering its applications at the household level – laser treatment of eye diseases or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The threat to compromise existing blockchain technologies is a great reason to create more secure encryption methods.

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