Project Eleven raised $6 million to protect Bitcoin
BTC$104,742.13
This is because the existential threat of quantum computing has heightened fear that core network encryption could one day be obsolete.
According to the release, the round was jointly led by variant funds and mathematicians, with participating investors Nebbler and Formation from Castle Island Ventures.
“As quantum computing capabilities progress, threats to systems like Bitcoin are no longer theoretical and imminent,” said Alex Pruden, CEO of Project Eleven, in a release.
“This funding will allow us to go beyond that curve and create the tools, standards and ecosystems we need to ensure that digital assets remain safe in the post-class world,” Pruden said.
Earlier this year, Project Eleven launched the Q-Day Prize, providing one BTC to the first team that can use quantum computers to break Bitcoin’s elliptic curve encryption (ECC).
“We define Q-Day as the moment when quantum computers can destroy the elliptic curve cryptography that protects the private keys used by Bitcoin,” said Conor Deegan, co-founder and vice president of engineering at Project Eleven.
Project Eleven has also announced that it will launch Yellowpages in Yellowpages, where users can generate hybrid key pairs, create proofs that link to existing BTC addresses, and timestamp those proofs in a verifiable ledger.
Yellow pages work by letting users generate new key pairs that are resistant to the types of attacks that future quantum computers can launch, using post-Quantum encryption algorithms, such as lattice-based systems.
Next, create an encrypted proof that links this quantum safe key to an existing BTC address. The proof is time stamped and stored in YellowPages.
It will not move or change funds on the Bitcoin blockchain, but create a verifiable paper trail of wallet ownership that could act as a fallback in the event of elliptic curve encryption broken.
“Preparing ahead of Q-Day means ensuring that digital assets remain secure and verifiable in the post-class world. Yellow Pages will actively establish ownership of today’s quantum residents by providing users with free, auditing and open source tools,” continues Deegan.
Protecting BTC against quantum through consensus
This approach is in contrast to solutions like QRAMP. This is a Bitcoin improvement proposal that will mandate the transition of hard forks to quantum safe addresses.
Although effective in theory, QRAMP and similar proposals face high barriers to adoption as they require consensus.
The recent Op_return debate between Ethereum’s Multi Year Year store-of-stake and Bitcoin reminds us of how slow protocol changes are, with some analysts warning that slow governance processes are the threat itself.
This route promotes mass adoption of quantum defense, while bypassing the need for consensus.
As Presto Research’s Rick Maeda warned in a recent interview with Coindesk, by the time the threat is real, it’s already too late, so Quantum Defense must be built linearly.
Project Eleven’s latest move suggests that some in the Crypto industry are taking this threat seriously, while acknowledging the weaknesses of current methods.