Google has set a timeline for post-quantum migration by 2029. Quantum computing could theoretically undermine most cryptocurrencies’ encryption models. The Ethereum Foundation has announced a four-pronged roadmap to address the quantum computing threat by 2029. A day earlier, the Ethereum Foundation published a four-pronged roadmap to protect the $260 billion network.
Chaincode Labs has estimated that up to 50% of all Bitcoin — roughly $700 billion — is vulnerable to a quantum computing threat. The first threat is already happening, according to Google. It is called ‘store-now-decrypt-later attacks, where adversaries capture encrypted data today and wait for future quantum computers to decrypt it. The second threat directly targets cryptocurrencies.
Even though the Ethereum Foundation doesn’t expect quantum computing to pose a threat to users for another 8 to 12 years, researchers acknowledge that ‘the work must begin well before the threat arrives’. Bitcoin developers aren’t waiting around either.
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