Solana developers have created a storage for cryptocurrencies that is not afraid of quantum computing. How does it work?
Quantum computers are one of the key risks to the future of cryptocurrencies. In theory, as they evolve, such devices could crack digital signatures and put an end to blockchain security. Still, in essence, they will be able to use public addresses available to everyone to recover private keys, well, that would empty any wallet on the network of choice. Fortunately, developers are aware of this risk and are already trying to combat it.
Danger of quantum computers for cryptocurrencies
As we’ve already noted, more powerful quantum computers are able to override the security of blockchains, which in turn could devalue the native cryptocurrencies at their core. Why this will happen.
If the owner of the computing device will be able to hack into any address on the blockchain and empty it, then hacking a particular wallet is only a matter of time. And since investors will not be able to guarantee the safety of their cryptocurrency, they will get rid of it in an attempt to save some value.
The launch of a quantum computing chip from Google called Willow has sparked fresh discussions on the topic of quantum computers’ impact on crypto. As we reported earlier, it is capable of solving a large-scale computing problem in less than five minutes. By comparison, the most advanced supercomputers would take 10 septillion years for the same task.
However, there is no need to worry about the impending hack of Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency network. As Kevin Rose, senior product manager at Google, pointed out, a quantum computer with 13 million qubits is capable of breaking the encryption in BTC. Well, Willow’s current figure is only 105 qubits.
Although this does not mean that developers should not care about the security of their own products. The first steps in this direction were made by representatives of the Winternitz team.
Which cryptocurrencies are protected from quantum computing
According to Winternitz developers on Twitter, they managed to create a quantum computing-resistant vault called Solana Winternitz Vault, which is not afraid of the threat from advanced computing devices. As Cointelegraph notes, to achieve this, they implemented a complex hash-based system that generates new keys with every transaction.
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