Nic Carter: Quantum Computing is Only "an Engineering Hurdle" Away from Breaking Bitcoin, 1.7 Million Bitcoins at Risk

BlockBeats News, December 20th, Founder of Smart Contracts, Co-founder of Castle Island Ventures Nic Carter released a lengthy article stating that renowned quantum theorist and scholar Scott Aaronson's research shows that quantum computing breaking Bitcoin is merely an "extremely difficult" engineering challenge, rather than requiring a new discovery in basic physics.

Nic Carter pointed out that theoretically, Bitcoin could undergo a soft fork and adopt a "post-quantum" (PQ) signature scheme. There are indeed some post-quantum encryption signature schemes currently available. However, the main issue lies in determining the specific post-quantum scheme, organizing the soft fork, and painstakingly migrating all addresses with balances totaling in the tens of millions. Therefore, the mitigation measures needed for Bitcoin to defend against quantum computing decryption may take close to a decade.

Furthermore, as a significant amount of vulnerable Bitcoin is held in abandoned addresses, and the owners of these addresses cannot feasibly be compelled to move their Bitcoin, even if Bitcoin were to be upgraded to post-quantum signatures, it would still face the risk of 1.7 million Bitcoins being suddenly stolen by quantum attackers. Not only does Bitcoin need to be upgraded in an organized and timely manner, but Bitcoin holders must also collectively agree to lock up these 1.7 million Bitcoins to eliminate this risk — something unprecedented in Bitcoin's history.

Therefore, Nic Carter urges and calls on the Bitcoin community and developers to promptly take mitigating actions against the threat of quantum computing, rather than viewing it with indifference and overly optimistic attitudes.