Google has now managed to win over quantum supremacy, all the cryptographers are now out to save the blockchain in order to protect the cryptocurrencies.
In the previous week, Google released an announcement about achieving a breakthrough over quantum computing. In one of the leading journals for science, Nature, Google made an announcement of achieving “quantum supremacy” with the creation of a computer that would be able to finish up calculations, which even the best and the fastest supercomputer of the world wouldn’t be able to finish.
While the conventional computers made use of bits to perform all the calculations in the form of 0s and 1s, quantum computers will make use of qubits and transistors that will help in registering 0s and 1s at the exact time, which will result in the exponential increase of power of the computers.
The cryptography of blockchain entirely relies upon the fact that the private keys are very hard to be calculated as compared to the public keys. The private keys are encrypted in a way that even the largest supercomputers in the world would take several years to decode them. But, with the introduction of quantum computers, decoding this encryption would be very easy.
According to the estimation made by the experts of the industry, for the quantum computers to become a problem for cryptocurrency, it would at least take a decade of time. However, to prepare for the odds, the leaders of cryptography have already started to work hard in the development of new techniques to resist cryptography, which could be used in securing the blockchains in the future.
In 2015, NSA made an announcement about its intention of transitioning of NSS into quantum-resistant cryptography or to a public-key that can be utilized in the post-quantum era, said the spokesperson from the National Security Agency of the US. Since the disclosure of quantum-computers, the NSA has started to work along with the leaders of the industry to make sure that a robust system is developed with algorithms that are quantum-resistant to protect the policies of the government of the United States. And they are also ensuring that all the parties are adequately prepared to tackle this unwelcomed transition.
The competition for the creation of the post-quantum algorithm is on its way as the NIST (National Institute for Standards and Technology) has received more than 80 applications for quantum-resistant algorithms.
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