Blockstream CEO Adam Back, an early pioneer of the crypto movement, said bitcoiners should look at building quantum-resistant solutions now, even if the threat is still decades away.
“Quantum computing still has a lot to prove. Current systems are essentially laboratory experiments. I have been following this field for over 25 years and the progress has been gradual,” Back said on Tuesday at Paris Blockchain Week.
“That said, Bitcoin should prepare,” Back said, adding that the “safest approach” is to build optional upgrades that will enable migration to quantum cryptography if needed.
Concerns that quantum computers could eventually crack blockchain cryptography have stoked industry-wide fears that bad actors could use them to break into cryptocurrency wallets, plunging the market into chaos.
Back said in November that the quantum threat was still 20 to 40 years away explaining to Bloomberg earlier this month that today’s quantum computers are slower than calculators.
Still, his Bitcoin development company, Blockstream, has a dedicated quantum team investigating potential threat vectors to the Bitcoin network.
Part of that work included implementing hash-based signatures on Blockstream’s Layer 2 Bitcoin Liquid Network, Back said during Paris Blockchain Week.
“Preparation is key. Making changes in a controlled way is much safer than reacting to a crisis.”
He added that the Taproot protocol could also support alternative signature schemes on the Bitcoin network without affecting existing users.
The threat of quantum computing may be closer than it seems
Last month, researchers from Google and the California Institute of Technology said that functional quantum computers may appear sooner than expected and that much less computing power is needed to crack cryptography than previously thought.
Google even went so far as to say that quantum computers could potentially crack Bitcoin’s cryptography in as little as nine minutes, allowing hackers to launch a “spending” attack.
Asked what would happen if the quantum threat arrived sooner than expected, Back said Bitcoin creators would “act quickly.”
“We’ve seen this before – bugs identified and fixed within hours. When something becomes urgent, it focuses attention and creates consensus.”
Quantum proposal to freeze old Bitcoin has met with backlash
On Tuesday, Bitcoin creator Jameson Lopp and five other cryptocurrency security researchers unveiled a proposal to freeze Bitcoins vulnerable to quantum attacks – including Satoshi Nakamoto’s $81.9 billion stash – to prevent them from being stolen once quantum computers become operational.
Related: Bitcoiners propose freezing coins vulnerable to quantum attacks in BIP-361
The proposal was met with heavy criticism from several members of the Bitcoin community, including programmer and researcher Mark Erhardt, who described it as “authoritarian and confiscatory.”
Phil Geiger, director of business development at Metaplanet, said: “We have to steal people’s money to prevent their money from being stolen.”
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