Quantum computing isn't a faster PC; it's a fundamentally different paradigm running on qubits as said by @w4vitale during @EthCC.
It poses a massive threat to blockchain cryptography, but Ethereum is preparing.
Here is a breakdown of the quantum threat and ETH's roadmap. 🧵👇
1/ We are moving from the NISQ era (noisy physical qubits) to the logical qubit era.
By bundling physical qubits and applying quantum error correction, we drastically lower error rates.
This is what makes Cryptographically Relevant Quantum Computers (CRQCs) possible.
By bundling physical qubits and applying quantum error correction, we drastically lower error rates.
This is what makes Cryptographically Relevant Quantum Computers (CRQCs) possible.
2/ The threat: Shor's algorithm provides exponential speedups that completely break public-key cryptography (ECDSA, RSA).
If a CRQC reaches sufficient scale, existing digital signatures can be easily forged.
Your wallet's public key becomes a major vulnerability.
If a CRQC reaches sufficient scale, existing digital signatures can be easily forged.
Your wallet's public key becomes a major vulnerability.
3/ Timelines: The physical qubits needed to break ECC dropped from 20M to 1M.
DARPA projects an industrially useful QC by 2033.
NIST mandates post-quantum (PQ) crypto by 2035. Industry roadmaps point to CRQCs by ~2032.
The clock is ticking. ⏳
DARPA projects an industrially useful QC by 2033.
NIST mandates post-quantum (PQ) crypto by 2035. Industry roadmaps point to CRQCs by ~2032.
The clock is ticking. ⏳
4/ Ethereum's Response: Every layer of ETH relies on vulnerable elliptic curve crypto.
The aggressive official roadmap targets a hash-based post-quantum Layer 1 by 2029, treating this threat as an opportunity to clear out old technical debt.
The aggressive official roadmap targets a hash-based post-quantum Layer 1 by 2029, treating this threat as an opportunity to clear out old technical debt.
5/ At the Consensus Layer, BLS signatures (used by 1M+ validators to vote) will break.
PQ signatures are too massive to aggregate normally. The fix?
Validators will generate ZK proofs of their signatures, and the protocol will aggregate the proofs instead.
PQ signatures are too massive to aggregate normally. The fix?
Validators will generate ZK proofs of their signatures, and the protocol will aggregate the proofs instead.
6/ At the Execution Layer, EOAs are hardcoded to ECDSA.
Ethereum must transition to native Account Abstraction (AA).
AA provides algorithmic agility, allowing accounts to upgrade spending conditions to post-quantum cryptography (like lattice or hash-based signatures).
Ethereum must transition to native Account Abstraction (AA).
AA provides algorithmic agility, allowing accounts to upgrade spending conditions to post-quantum cryptography (like lattice or hash-based signatures).
7/ What if a secret CRQC boots up tomorrow?
Emergency fallbacks are being built:
1️⃣ Using AA to auto-rotate ECDSA keys upon spending.
2️⃣ Vitalik's idea: disable ECDSA entirely and use ZK-proofs of seed phrases (hashing is quantum-safe!) to unlock funds.
Emergency fallbacks are being built:
1️⃣ Using AA to auto-rotate ECDSA keys upon spending.
2️⃣ Vitalik's idea: disable ECDSA entirely and use ZK-proofs of seed phrases (hashing is quantum-safe!) to unlock funds.
I highly recommend checking the full talk that gives an amazing overview of both quantum computers and Ethereum roadmap by @w4vitale!
youtube.com/watch?v=bEUxvj…
youtube.com/watch?v=bEUxvj…
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