Technology like any other innovation has its pros as well as cons. Cryptocurrency which is well known for its transparency and decentralized platform however it’s also not safe from certain factors. The current threat comes from Quantum Computing as per the research report published by Cardano Foundation and think-tank Z/YEN.
Quantum Computing has been modeled by Ben Larzinski. US, Canada and Australia have been working and progressing in this field in the past decade. D-WAVE from Canada has already built its first quantum computer which luckily cannot kill Bitcoins but, the other quantum computers will certainly be able to kill the bitcoins. This triggers a high risk regarding losing our stored crypto currencies within a matter of time.
But how can they kill the crypto currencies?
Quantum Computers will be having unmatchable processing power. NASA, NSA and Google are building a 50 qubit quantum computer which by using their algorithm will reduce the difficulty level of currently used public key algorithms and break it within hours.
Now, as most of the crypto currencies depend upon public key cryptography, they are at risk too. To overcome this, Cardano is planning to build quantum resistant solutions. Cardano with its highly intriguing design, prioritizes security and the ability of computer and software to exchange and make use of information over anything else.
It also offers special extensions which allows for adding more signature schemes through a soft fork – which means a change to the software protocol where only previously valid blocks/transactions are made invalid – resulting into addition of any security layer without disrupting the network system.
The Research Team led by The Cardano Foundation and think-tank Z/YEN believes that only in a matter of time, Quantum Computing will break the security of Public Key Cryptography. Its effects won’t be limited up to crypto currencies and Blockchains as most of the online communication services depend upon public key cryptography too. For this reason, their aim is to safeguard it from the upcoming threat. A solution needs to be developed on a large scale for this.
The Cardano Foundation led by Chairman Michael Parsons and think-tank Z/YEN have been conducting research programmes to deal with various issues that involve technological, government regulation, industry application, etc. along with the impact of quantum computing on blockchain.
Presently it seems impossible to think about future without cryptocurrencies, and this technology will revolutionize the online payment process. With this, the usage of public key cryptography will become more common. Thus, it is a serious matter to look into and to protect it from the threats being raised by Quantum Computing.
