Some computer scientists say quantum computers are moving closer to reality and will cripple bitcoins encryption systems and doom bitcoin. Governments are investing aggressively in quantum computers, which are ultra powerful.
Quantum computers, first theorized by physicist Richard Feynman in 1982, have promised a new era of computing. The theory has only recently translated into significant real-world advances, with NASA, the CIA and Google working on a quantum computer. Computer scientists now warn the machines will cripple existing encryption methods and destroy bitcoins technological foundations.
Andersen Cheng, co-founder of Post Quantum, a U.K. cybersecurity firm, said that bitcoin will end the day the first quantum computer arrives. He said the quantum computer will undermine the cryptography surrounding bitcoins public and private keys.
Bitcoin recipients share their public key with the sender. To spend bitcoin, a bitcoin owner must use their private key. If another party learns the private key, that party can spend all the bitcoin.
Martin Tomlinson, a professor at the Security, Communications and Networking Research Centre in Plymouth University, said a quantum computer can calculate the private key from the public one in a minute or two. By learning all the private keys, someone would have access to all available bitcoin.
Tomlinson did not know when the first quantum computer will appear that will have this capability, but he noted that extensive research is under way. The European Commission announced a $1.1 billion project earlier this year aimed at bringing a quantum revolution.
For sure Bitcoin is very highly profitable currency. The destruction of Bitcoin is never possible because the investors are purchased bitcoin when its price is down and sale it when its price going up. But there are some factors which can really affected it. Like the world war is the big factor which can be cause of huge changes in the country. The other one is economy crises that impact the sale of Bitcoin. But all these cant happen at a time. So bitcoin never dies.
