A new discussion about the potential impact of quantum computing on Bitcoin has begun in recent hours among developers and ecosystem analysts. This exchange revolved around encryption to protect the network.
The debate gained momentum following a statement by Charles Edwards, founder of analytics firm Capriol Investments, in which he said of quantum risk: not treated with the necessary seriousness within the Bitcoin ecosystem.
If a correction is not implemented by 2028, we expect Bitcoin to fall below $50,000 and continue to fall until a correction occurs.
Charles Edwards is the founder of Capriol.
Technical X Crosses on Bitcoin Cryptocurrency
One of the exchanges took place on December 17th between Edwards and Blockstream founder Adam Back. Mr. Buck bluntly responded to Mr. Edwards’ suggestion, calling it “ridiculous.”
In light of this, Mr. Edwards deepened his position, claiming that Bitcoin is “the world’s biggest honeypot,” with a huge concentration of value protected by what he described as the “biggest honeypot in the world.” “The weakest financial encryption”.
CriptoNoticias reported in late September that Capriole’s founder believes “Bitcoin is embarrassingly weak in the face of quantum computing.”
opposed a technical approach to discussion Note that “Bitcoin does not use encryption.” And this statement started a semantic and conceptual discussion about encryption and cryptography.
Mr. Edwards replied that it was Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC). Yes, this is a type of encryption. (Same with encryption), if that technology is compromised, the wallet where the public key was exposed will also be compromised.
The Bitcoin network uses ECC to secure transaction signatures, specifically the ECDSA variant. Mr. Buck insisted on distinguishing between encryption and digitally signed encryption.
Bitcoin is not built on encryption, it is built on signatures. Schnorr and ECDSA keys are signing keys, not public encryption keys.
Adam Back, founder of Blockstream.
Buck said that the mathematics of elliptic curves can also be used for encryption schemes in other systems; it’s not Bitcoin.
On the network, these keys are only used to sign transactions and prove ownership of funds, not to encrypt information.
According to Back, conflating both uses can lead to misunderstandings about how the protocol’s security works.
Is encryption the same as encryption?
Cryptography is a broad field that includes a variety of techniques for protecting information. It includes both encryption (or a cipher used to hide data) and digital signatures to verify authenticity and integrity without hiding the content.
Bitcoin uses cryptography, but not within its consensus system. transaction Verified by digital signatureproves that the person spending the funds has the corresponding private key.
In Bitcoin, the most commonly used algorithm for this is ECDSA, and more recently Schnorr, another cryptographic signature scheme added in the Taproot update.
Discussion continued among Bitcoin experts
In that sense, user X continued the previous discussion under the pseudonym “Arashi”.
He said that even though Bitcoin did not use encryption in the strict sense of the word, Values are still stored in ECC-based wallets It may be compromised in the future.
In another thread, Buck makes the argument that even if quantum computing were able to break through symmetric and public key cryptography, That does not include forging Bitcoin’s digital signature.
“If the digital signature cannot be broken, quantum signature forgery will not harm Bitcoin transactions,” he explained.
He also said that Bitcoin only uses encryption to protect local files in wallets stored on disk, which is intended to prevent theft through physical access. There are no remote attacks on your network.
He also said that encryption in communication between nodes is optional and serves as a privacy feature. non-consensual security. Even if it is completely disabled, Bitcoin cannot be stolen on the network.
From Buck’s perspective, quantum risk is often exaggerated by mixing different layers of the system, such as Bitcoin’s consensus, wallets, and data transfers.
Finally, a Bitcoin Core client contributor known as Murch explained: Encryption is just a subcategory of encryption And that Bitcoin uses digital signatures rather than encryption in its consensus system.
Another Core developer agreed that much of the debate stems from the fact that many people confuse cryptography with cryptography, and that’s what Back is trying to clarify.