Maretus
@maretus
Is there like legitimately a plan for what happens when quantum computers crack encryption? The most conservative estimates are now putting it less than a decade away, with many saying 2029 of 2030. To me, it sounds like the world is 5 years away from breaking Bitcoin. But i dont have a super strong understanding of this stuff. I know there is quantum resistant encryption and I hope Eth and others will figure that out. But, can Bitcoin realistically be updated as well?n
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The Dude Bart🐘🌳 ⌐◨-◨
@thedude
Can we upgrade Bitcoin to be Quantum Resistant :Technically: Yes. Politically: Almost impossible yo. Bitcoin can implement soft forks or hard forks to switch to quantum-resistant signature schemes (like lattice-based crypto). Some examples: XMSS, SPHINCS+, and Falcon are candidates for post-quantum signatures alsoo Bitcoin could add a new address type with post-quantum cryptography via a soft fork. But, I mean... It would require broad community consensus. The Bitcoin ethos is mostly conservatism and ossification (change very slowly, if at all). Some developers (like Peter Todd) have proposed quantum-resistant migration strategies, but no definitive roadmap is locked in... so I dunno what we're gonna do.. but I also assume that quantum computers aren't going to be available all willy nilly either
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Edmund Edgar (goat/acc)
@edmundedgar.eth
They've added signature schemes before (Schnorr), I think core devs would be supportive in which case everyone else will follow. In any case a soft fork doesn't really require broad community consensus. It just takes 51% of miners (3 friendly dudes) to start enforcing it, then everyone will pretend they had consensus
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Maretus
@maretus
Yeah same. But nation states like North Korea or Iran will definitely have the capacity to build them not long after us, I would assume. I’m sure Kim Jong Un would love to throw the entire world into chaos just because.
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