In my previous post about QUUBE, I was talking about the project, its goals, and structure in general, but after I posted that article I realized that people and I also roughly know nothing about quantum computers and calculations. Ant this is happening at the time when we see the mentioning of these computers in the press much more often than previous years. The only public quantum race between IBM and Google is worth a lot! So, I decided to find out more about this technology and its impact on the crypto world.
Very high expectations relied on quantum computers today. Scientists hope that quantum computers will revolutionize absolutely all areas of life. And many of them are almost sure that the first area of the application of quantum computers will be chemistry. By creating an algorithm that allows you to analyze an incredible amount of different substances and their properties, a quantum computer will help scientists develop the most durable, lightweight, safe and effective materials. But personally I think that the first application of these computers depends only on that to whose hands it will fall. A lot of beautiful and terrible things might be done with the help of quantum computers, and below I would talk about their impact in the blockchain area, the closest use case for me and for other cryptocurrency users and enthusiasts.
First of all, let's find out what the quantum computer is, and where did this concept come from.
The concept of a quantum computer belongs to the American Nobel Prize winner in physics Richard Feynman, who a few years before his death in 1988 suggested that quantum computers could combine the physical and chemical properties of matter and would allow much faster scaling of the number of calculations performed by classical computers.
While searching for a solution to this problem Feynman's followers came to the Qubits, the minimum units of information that can be in several states of space and time at the same time. Obviously the concept of quantum computers is intertwined with quantum superposition, the presence of atoms in several states at the same time due to the interaction of atoms and elementary indivisible particles, quanta, under certain conditions.
In classical computers the minimum units of information are bits and they can have only two values: 0 and 1, and even the most complex software in its essence is only a very long sequence of ones and zeros. The qubit, in turn, maintains the states of both values (0 and 1) at the same time that allows you to process a much larger amount of information and perform tasks impossible for modern computers.
The mathematical advantage of qubits over bits is that when we add one unit they double the power of the entire microcircuit, and adding one bit to another does not change anything and still requires tremendous amounts of information and microcircuits to solve complex problems.
As for security, a quantum computer with sufficient power can solve the problems of factoring large numbers, which is a threat to all cryptographic algorithms, such as RSA, DSA, and EEC. They can be hacked by applying the effective quantum Fourier transform.
Though everything is still staying positive for crypto, at least for approximately 7-10 years as the international group of scientists-investigators wrote in their article on arxiv.org.
The processing power of quantum computers to crack encrypted data is seen as the main threat to cryptocurrency exchanges and assets. Quantum computers can find the key to most existing cryptographic algorithms in a few machine cycles. Thus, any encrypted information cannot be considered as completely secure.
The second threat is the ability of quantum computers to process hash functions in several cycles, so a single quantum computer with a high clock frequency is enough for a 51% attack on the blockchain of any cryptocurrency in order to gain full control over it. Though this is a problem for cryptocurrencies, not cryptocurrency exchanges, but the last will become useless due to the inability of cryptocurrency blockchains to conduct transactions.
Therefore it is completely clear that quantum and post-quantum encryption algorithms and technologies will gain more and more popularity among private and public enterprises of different sectors of the economy and business, and of course, this strongly affects the blockchain technology sector and the cryptocurrency market as a whole.
The economic system of cryptocurrencies will become useless if, by the time the quantum computers are fully operational, the blockchain market will not have technologies that are able to fully protect themselves from quantum hacking. If attackers are able to steal cryptocurrencies or control more than 50% of a blockchain, a complete mess and total distrust will begin, and as a result, this market will sink into the unknown.
Summing up I want to say once again that quantum technologies are no longer the fiction of a madman, they are already nearby and will surely show themselves to the full. And it would be wonderful if we will still alive and will have an opportunity to see this evolutionary leap of all mankind in so many areas and industries. Thanks to quantum technologies we will get a variety of materials that will have incredible properties and can greatly simplify our lives and improve the environment, at least I really hope so. And what about the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry, this is a unique environment in which a lot of bright minds and motivated people are involved, where the development of the new competitively capable or having an advantage over other technologies is always in full swing. And I have no doubt that by the time of entering the market of quantum computers we, as participants of the ecosystem of blockchain technology will be fully protected from the possible attacks described above. Just take a look at the QUUBE project. Though they are pioneers, their eyes are full of hope and ideas! They simply shine with the desire to contribute to ensuring a stable and secure future for the entire cryptocurrency market! And I sincerely wish them to do this, because this is what I need too, and this is what we all need.
If you have any queries just drop me a pm on bitcointalk forum. Link to my profile is here, or leave a comment below this post.
