Is Quantum Computing a Threat to Blockchain?

The primary feature of blockchain and distributed ledger technology (DLT) is that its configuration makes it possible to guarantee that the data contained is not subject to third-party tampering, having a key system which enables an almost unbreakable security.

Since its inception, above all the main and distributed blockchains have demonstrated their immutability. But now the biggest question is whether quantum computers (QCs) could change all this in the near future.

This infrastructure functions if power does not come into play that can fear a spell like physical force, which could break the access and therefore take over the money resources. So far, analogous technologies have never come into existence, but now the status quo is totally different.

Distributed Ledger Technology vs Quantum Computing

With the introduction of the first quantum computers, the demand has turned out to be more pertinent in the cryptography environment, for the reason that it is thought that these computers could sooner or later bring numerous snags to the DLT and other cryptocurrencies.

Briefly, let's see what a QC is and how it actually operates. Different from the customary computers, QCs process bit 1 and 0 orders and have the capacity to work simultaneously with two diverse information while using quantum bits (qubits).

In practice, the Qubits as opposed to Bit allow you to perform different calculations separately instead of successively. But this would not affect mining.

Actually, Bitcoin, the original cryptocurrency, has been to some extent apprehended as quantum resistant: a quantum computer could not manage to hack or trace the private key to the bitcoin address beginning from the same due to the fact that it is a hash and therefore could not be traced back to the initial or promethean source.

This is the case of Bitcoins. But what about other cryptocurrencies?

Most of the cryptocurrency, derives from the Bitcoin (BTC) source code and with applicable upgrades can turn into quantum resistant sans complications.

For instance, back in 2015 Ethereum, the world’s second cryptocurrency by market cap had already considered the matter using Lamport's signatures; same applies to 8th digital asset by market capitalization EOS, whose CTO, Daniel Larimer, revealed that it is enough to just update the protocol in order to circumvent hitches.

Are There Blockchains and Cryptocurrencies that Are Quantum Resistant?

Here, the answer is a big yes, because some use a different arrangement of signatures and hashes.

For example, IOTA, which is a cryptocurrency based on Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) has got a signature arrangement for single use, Winternitz, in place of the elliptic curve signature; Nexus (NXS), because it uses a 571-bit password and uses the 1024-bit algorithms (Skein and Keccak) for the hash; and Quantum Resistant Ledger (QRL), which applies Lamport-Diffie, Winternitz and (XMSS).

Generally, the QCs are not yet effective and capable, not only currently but probably in the few years to come, to tarnish the robustness of blockchains and crypts.  In fact, even if the Google supercomputer has hit around 53 qubits, these standards and values ​​aren’t the least adequate to start such a process.