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Discussions began on social media on Saturday about the potential implications of a quantum computer capable of hacking Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin and then selling those coins on the market.
The controversy was sparked by YouTuber Josh Otten, who shared a chart showing BTC falling to $3.00, predicting that this could happen if a sufficiently powerful quantum computer managed to steal and sell Satoshi’s 1 million BTC.
“A lot of oldies (OG) will buy in this crash,” said Willy Woo, a longtime Bitcoin investor. “The Bitcoin network will survive; most parts are not immediately vulnerable.”
Woo added that about 4 million BTC are held in pay-to-public-key (P2PK) addresses, including Satoshi coins, which show the full public key on the time-spent blockchain, making them vulnerable to quantum attacks.
Revealing the full public key of a Bitcoin wallet on the blockchain makes these wallets vulnerable to future quantum attacks, as a sufficiently powerful quantum computer could theoretically derive the private key from the public key.
New types of Bitcoin addresses are less vulnerable to quantum attacks because they do not expose the full public keys on the blockchain. If the public key is unknown, it is impossible for a quantum computer to generate the associated private key.
The Bitcoin and crypto communities continue to debate the potential impact of quantum computing on Bitcoin and the cryptographic technology that underpins cryptocurrencies, with some even arguing that quantum computing could be the end of the industry.
Adam Back, the legendary Bitcoin figure and co-founder of Blockstream, claims that we will only face the quantum threat in 20-40 years. He believes there is plenty of time to adopt existing post-quantum cryptography standards before a quantum computer capable of deciphering modern security standards is developed.
Market analyst James Check added that quantum computing does not threaten Bitcoin technology, as users will migrate to quantum stable addresses as soon as a live quantum computer emerges.
However, the quantum threat could affect Bitcoin’s market price, however, Czech argues that the Bitcoin community will not agree to block Satoshi’s coins before a quantum computer can crack its wallets and put those coins back into circulation.
With rapidly evolving technologies, it becomes important to be aware of the implications of quantum computing. The cryptocurrency security debate is just beginning, and it is crucial to explore possible solutions to prepare for these new challenges.
