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New Research Clears the Fear that Development of Quantum Computers is a Threat to Bitcoin Security

Jun 05, 2018 Posted /  2218 Views


An earlier Research established that the development of quantum computing powers would be a major threat to Bitcoin Security. This threat has been cleared in a new research whose findings contradicts with that of the first research.  The new research findings conclude that the earlier resolution that quantum computers are a risk to bitcoin security is exaggerated.

According to Jeffrey Tucker the Editorial director at the American Institute of Economic Research, the fear of a quantum attack on Bitcoin and other blockchain applications is based on scaremongering and ignorance. Tucker believes that the entire basis of the blockchain technology is to crowdsource solutions for problems.  This problem includes potential hacking attacks and the so-called threats posed by quantum computers development.

The crowd nature of protecting blockchain platforms make blockchain networks security more superior compared to centrally planned networks and platform. It’s a known fact that any security risk would arise from the community and since the community is the one in charge of solving these risks, blockchain security is slated to remain secure even to quantum computer hashing powers.


According to a research paper published by Dr. Gavin Brennen, a quantum physicist at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, the claims that quantum computers will be able to crack bitcoin security in a nearby future is baseless. The blockchain community can shed of their worries of a quantum attack on bitcoin since the publisher of this report respected authority on the subject of quantum computing worldwide.


Bitcoin is still very secure, even to the most powerful quantum computer

In his paper, Dr. Brennen analyses the threats posed by advancement and development of quantum computing powers to blockchain technology. The study was used to determine the possibilities of a quantum computer to falsify blockchain records by centralizing it’s hashing power. The ability of the quantum computer in cracking a cryptographic key which is the main tool protecting blockchain based platforms was also ascertained.


The results indicated that quantum technology are still very far away from being able to undermine bitcoin security. Taking the current quantum computing technology and the projected future development in quantum computing, the researcher determined that bitcoin is still very secure from a quantum attack.

The current quantum infrastructures processing powers are still very low compared to what is required to crack a cryptographic key even if the process is expended over a very long period of time. Let’s assume that after 10 years’ quantum processing powers could reach 100 GHz. Even though this processing capacity is achieved by quantum computers, the existing fast ASIC used for proof of work in Blockchain data mining is expected to develop too to counter balance the power of quantum computers.


Quantum Security Risk to Blockchain Platforms if Only Theoretical

Supposing the blockchain ecosystem would stop evolving interim of security, software and hardware upgrades, there would be a time when quantum computing prowess would catch up with bitcoin cryptographic security algorithm. But we all know that it’s not the case with both of the industries. In other words, blockchain is developing at a faster rate compared to that of quantum computing. This can be justified by the cost comparisons existing between upgrades in blockchain and that of quantum physics.

The researcher concludes that the technology required to cause any significant threats to blockchain currently is still ten years away in the development tunnel. This 10-year gap according Dr. Brennen will never be bridge as both technologies are racing at relatively constant velocities.  



Tags: bitcoin Quantum Computers Bitcoin Security Jeffrey Tucker Dr. Gavin Brennen

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