Quantum Computing Puts $2 trillion in Digital Assets at Risk

Researchers are making progress toward quantum computers powerful enough to undermine the mathematical assumptions that currently protect cryptocurrencies and other blockchain-based assets, Joshua Hong reported for Fortune.

Quantum computers could eventually threaten the cryptographic systems protecting cryptocurrencies and other digital assets. 

The potential threat means the cryptocurrency industry needs to replace its existing cryptographic infrastructure before sufficiently powerful quantum computers become available.

“The great quantum migration is going to require the entire digital asset industry to participate,” said Christopher Smith, co-founder and CEO of Quantus, a quantum-secure blockchain network.

Quantum computing uses qubits rather than the conventional bits used by classical computers.

Qubits can exploit quantum mechanical properties to perform certain calculations far more efficiently than classical computers.

The cryptography used to protect digital assets has traditionally been considered highly resistant to attacks because conventional computers would require impractical amounts of time to perform the calculations needed to derive private keys.

A sufficiently powerful quantum computer, however, could potentially undermine widely used public-key cryptography.

More than $2 trillion in digital assets are secured by elliptic-curve cryptography, according to Smith.

That represents a substantial portion of the overall cryptocurrency market.

The risk does not mean those assets can currently be stolen by quantum computers; rather, it highlights the need for the industry to migrate to post-quantum cryptographic systems before the technology becomes capable of mounting such attacks.