Two very recent Quantum Computing bombshells

[John Clark]

Two big developments occurred in the field of quantum computing yesterday, and one of them may be of particular interest to members of this group because it concerns 256 bit elliptical encryption, the sort that Bitcoin uses. A year or even a week ago most people thought you'd need a quantum computer with several million physical Qubits to break Bitcoin's encryption in a reasonable length of time, but yesterday Google announced they have found a far more efficient algorithm which if used on a quantum computer with just 25,000 physical Qubits could break bitcoin in only 10 days. Interestingly Google decided not to publish the algorithm, instead they proved they have access to such an algorithm by publishing a cryptographic zero-knowledge proof. They said they did this after consulting with the US government. Google issue the following statement:

"The escalating risk that detailed cryptanalytic blueprints could be weaponized by adversarial actors necessitates a shift in disclosure practices. Accordingly, we believe it is now a matter of public responsibility to share refined resource estimates while withholding the precise mechanics of the underlying attacks. Progress in quantum computing has reached the stage where it is prudent to stop publishing details of improved quantum cryptanalysis to avoid misuse."

Quantum computing bombshells that are not April fools jokes

John K Clark    See what's on my list at  Extropolis

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