Google quantum computer and the death of Bitcoin

[c00face]

This is probably unpopular opinion. But yea, I really don't see Bitcoin lasting any longer with Sycamore (Google Quantum Computer) being able to solve all of Bitcoin algorithms. Either that, or Google holds the power to cryptocurrency in the palm of its hand. For a tech company already as powerful of Google, to become even more powerful... I am talking in the trillions of dollars, it really does have Bitcoin in the palm of its hand. Sure, quantum computer has been out for a long time, but I wonder how many of it already has been mined by Google or what sort of secret testing they have already done.

 

https://www.coindesk.com/how-should-crypto-prepare-for-googles-quantum-supremacy

 

Just to clarify, I am a day trader, and I am one of those early investors of Bitcoin. I do believe Bitcoin have a special place in society, but the problem is these big tech companies really have way too much power.

[vanished]

I have a very limited and possibly incorrect understanding of how quantum computing works, but based on what was told to me yesterday, it is very different than normal computing (although I did already know this).  Instead of working for a long time on a task of arbitrary size like a normal computer, a quantum computer will solve the problem posed to it instantly, however, the number of qubits it has dictates the size of the problem it can handle.  If there are more potential states of the system in question than it can simultaneously "imagine", it simply can't work on it.  The 4 and some minutes required to solve the problem was apparently just because it takes normal computers a while to read what's been computed or something.

 

If that is correct (and that is a big if), and if I understand how bitcoin and other crypto-curencies work, then there is a long way to go before they are any threat.  There would need to be at least 256 qubits for them to be able to work on crypto mining.

[integer_tricks]

Bitcoin uses hashing that is resistant to quantum computing. RSA and other algorithms based on modular arithmetic, primes, and elliptic curves are what are vulnerable.

 

Edit: The part where they talk about signing is still relevant though.

Edited October 25, 2019 by integer_tricks

[wasab]

If quantum computer can crunch prime numbers as quick as they are to be believe, internet would be doomed. Passwords are all gonna be crackable. 

[NineEyeRon]

 

10 hours ago, wasab said:

If quantum computer can crunch prime numbers as quick as they are to be believe, internet would be doomed. Passwords are all gonna be crackable. 

Easy fix, just don’t uses password like 235111317

[shaz2sxy]

2 hours ago, NineEyeRon said:

 

Easy fix, just don’t uses password like 235111317

HOW did you guess my password!!!!

[Princess Luna]

On 10/24/2019 at 10:17 PM, wasab said:

internet would be doomed. Passwords are all gonna be crackable. 

Eh not so much, do have in mind so far only Google has anything close to it and it's a reputable international company heavily regulated by a dozen of governments and international authorities to variate extends.

 

This kind of thing doesn't mean random hackers in Russia - Nowhere will be able to log in into account they want to, so yeah...

[wasab]

7 minutes ago, Princess Luna said:

Eh not so much, do have in mind so far only Google has anything close to it and it's a reputable international company heavily regulated by a dozen of governments and international authorities to variate extends.

 

This kind of thing doesn't mean random hackers in Russia - Nowhere will be able to log in into account they want to, so yeah...

I am afraid of governments hacking me, not criminals. 

[ZivZulander]

Bitcoin encryption isn't going to be broken before people have a chance to move off of it. Remember, bitcoin is a distributed network and it's software. It's more resilient than the financial system as a whole is.

[Uttamattamakin]

The thing is... we perhaps shouldn't compare quantum computers directly to classical computers.  Both will have their uses long into the future.  They both compute in VERY different ways, and quantum computations may not be better for all applications. 

Expect until 2050 or 2080 for anything like a ... quantum microcomputer to become a thing. ...  For a very long LONG time they will be part of a super computer or part of a datacenter used by institutions and governments. 

 

So unless the NSA or PRC or RSD want to crack your porno stash... don't worry about it.   

[RoseLuck462]

When all the coins have been mined, that doesn’t mean the game is over.

[Nine Tailed Fox]

On 10/24/2019 at 6:17 PM, wasab said:

If quantum computer can crunch prime numbers as quick as they are to be believe, internet would be doomed. Passwords are all gonna be crackable. 

Or use the quantum computer to make a new encryption algorithm? 

[Guest]

I really don’t see the big deal with Google’s quantum computer when  IBM did it first and this tech is way out of the hands of consumers for at least 20 years.

[williamcll]

So that means we need quantum bitcoins!

[RejZoR]

The way D-Wave's engineer explained quantum computing is "river downflow". If water is coming from a mountain, it goes the path of least resistance across obstacles and heavily generalized, that's how quantum computing works. You don't actually compute numbers the way regular processors do, it computes the flow of the workload and result is when it reaches "zero" elevation aka bottom of mountain is what gives you the valuable data. And then you need to interpret that data as it's menaingless by itself.

 

I think folding apps like Rosetta@home or Folding@home use similar approach to find different viable protein models, but done on regular CPU's and GPU's. They compute the probability of an outcome, not the actual outcome and it does that at very high speed in quantum processors. And then you need to filter the output to actually get meaningful data. It's not like regular computers where 2+2 is always 4 and there is no other end result than that.

 

I'm pretty sure even LTT made interview some time in the past with the guys at D-Wave since they are Canadian too. It was in this interview that guy explained the basics of quantum computing.

[Video Beagle]

17 minutes ago, RejZoR said:

explained the basics of quantum computing.

I'm gonna need someone to explain the basics of the basics

[Harry Voyager]

I found this a good explanation. 

 

[tech.guru]

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/613596/how-a-quantum-computer-could-break-2048-bit-rsa-encryption-in-8-hours/

 

most of the internet uses RSA 2048 bits for the private key. if you look at the research it shows you would need, roughly 20-million-qubit quantum computer.

 

the current number of qubits by google are 53. its a fair ways off from 20 million qubits.

its decades before traditional encryption is broken

[Nine Tailed Fox]

On 10/26/2019 at 3:42 AM, Video Beagle said:

I'm gonna need someone to explain the basics of the basics

Traditional computers use 1's and 0's quantum computers can be either or 1 and 0 simultaneously but still can't wrap my head how that works lol

[Glorious]

17 hours ago, tech.guru said:

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/613596/how-a-quantum-computer-could-break-2048-bit-rsa-encryption-in-8-hours/

 

most of the internet uses RSA 2048 bits for the private key. if you look at the research it shows you would need, roughly 20-million-qubit quantum computer.

 

the current number of qubits by google are 53. its a fair ways off from 20 million qubits.

its decades before traditional encryption is broken

Not only that but there is a lot of noise when it comes to quantum computers. That 53 of qubits is not fully useful. https://www.pcgamesn.com/quantum-computing-encryption-decryption-risk

[BuckGup]

I find it hilarious people think this is the end to current encryption. While sure when looking at metrics it only takes a matter of seconds compared to computers now. The government has super computers that can easily crack whatever security key they choose within a matter of minutes to a couple hours. The Top 500 list for super computers does not show governmental computers. Otherwise the first 50 would all be governmental owned

[wasab]

2 hours ago, BuckGup said:

I find it hilarious people think this is the end to current encryption. While sure when looking at metrics it only takes a matter of seconds compared to computers now. The government has super computers that can easily crack whatever security key they choose within a matter of minutes to a couple hours. The Top 500 list for super computers does not show governmental computers. Otherwise the first 50 would all be governmental owned

There is no such thing. Current public/private key cipher scheme would take millions of years to crack, provided the passwords are sufficiently long, even if all of earths super computers work together. 

[Roswell]

2 hours ago, BuckGup said:

I find it hilarious people think this is the end to current encryption. While sure when looking at metrics it only takes a matter of seconds compared to computers now. The government has super computers that can easily crack whatever security key they choose within a matter of minutes to a couple hours. The Top 500 list for super computers does not show governmental computers. Otherwise the first 50 would all be governmental owned

Not everyone buys into conspiracy theories.

[Roswell]

On 10/24/2019 at 9:17 PM, wasab said:

If quantum computer can crunch prime numbers as quick as they are to be believe, internet would be doomed. Passwords are all gonna be crackable. 

You really can't brute force passwords anymore, most accounts/services will block you after a handful of failed attempts and globally freeze login attempts.

[wasab]

7 minutes ago, Vitamanic said:

You really can't brute force passwords anymore, most accounts/services will block you after a handful of failed attempts and globally freeze login attempts.

That won't help much against offline cracking.