Tracking: Bitcoin Could Be Cracked by Google’s Quantum Computer in 2-5 Years? ｜Wall Street Controversy

Tracking: Bitcoin Could Be Cracked by Google’s Quantum Computer in 2-5 Years? Chamath Palihapitiya believes that Bitcoin may be cracked by Google's Willow chip in 2-5 years, and the blockchain must re-implement a new hash algorithm in the next 2-5 years. Chamath Palihapitiya is a Canadian-American venture capitalist, engineer, and entrepreneur known for his outspoken nature and insight into technology trends. The China Research Institute conducts comprehensive and scientific in-depth analysis and reasoning on the current development status of quantum computing and the security mechanism of Bitcoin. At the same time, the topics raised by Chamath Palihapitiya will be examined in a broader technology and industry context. The potential threat of quantum computing to Bitcoin The reason why quantum computers are considered a potential threat to blockchain cryptographic mechanisms such as Bitcoin is that they have the ability to run specific quantum algorithms (such as Shor's algorithm), thus theoretically being far superior to Crack certain types of public-key cryptography at speeds faster than those of a classical computer. The core cryptographic components that Bitcoin currently relies on are: 1. Hash function (SHA-256): used for Proof of Work and the hashing process to generate addresses. This part mainly deals with collision and preimage attacks. From the perspective of quantum computing, Grover's algorithm can speed up hash collision search, but it can only reduce the search difficulty from the classic O(2^n/2) to O(2^(n/2)), which is not the case for Bitcoin. Mining difficulty and overall security impact are still limited. 2. Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA): a public and private key system used to sign and verify transactions. Shor's algorithm can decompose large integers and find discrete logarithms in polynomial time, which poses a real potential threat to Bitcoin's elliptic curve-based encryption algorithm. Once the public key is exposed (a typical situation is when a user initiates a transaction), in the face of a sufficiently powerful quantum computer, the private key may be quickly deduced, resulting in serious security issues of stolen funds. Feasibility analysis of being cracked by Google’s quantum computer Willow chip within 2-5 years