Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, has just made a prediction regarding the impact of quantum computers on Bitcoin. In a post on X (Twitter), he asserted that quantum technology is still a long way from being able to threaten Bitcoin's security. Before that becomes a real threat, Bitcoin will soon integrate quantum-resistant addresses to protect the system.
According to Ardoino, users who still have access to their Bitcoin wallets will be able to move BTC to quantum-resistant addresses, helping to ensure safety against future attacks. However, he also mentioned a notable scenario: if Satoshi Nakamoto died, or the wallets lost their private keys, the Bitcoin could be hacked and returned to circulation when the quantum computer was powerful enough.
The question of how many Bitcoins Satoshi Nakamoto owns has long been a controversial topic. According to many estimates, Satoshi holds about 1 million BTC. With the current price of Bitcoin hovering around $100,000, the total value of this BTC amounts to $100 billion. If Bitcoin continues to grow in the long term, this number could reach several hundred billion dollars.
Ardoino's remarks quickly attracted great interest from the community, as quantum computing has always been a controversial topic in the crypto world. If the technology reaches a level where it can break Bitcoin's cryptocurrency, it could cause millions of BTC from lost wallets to return to the market, raising supply concerns and selling pressure in the market.
The Google team introduced the Willow chip. Source: Youtube Google
Previously, quantum technology was making significant progress, with corporations such as Google leading the way in the development race. Recently, Google announced the Willow chip, a quantum processor with 105 qubits, marking a major milestone in the field of quantum computing. This has raised concerns about the impact of quantum technology on many sectors, especially Bitcoin's security.
The rate of finding BTC's private key is many times lower than winning the jackpot. Source: Reddit @Coinguybri
Cryptocurrencies in general and Bitcoin in particular are protected by cryptographic algorithms to ensure the safety and integrity of transactions. However, quantum computers can break current cryptographic algorithms thanks to their ability to quickly solve mathematical problems that classical computers cannot.
The Shor algorithm makes it possible for quantum computers to crack the ECDSA digital signature system, one of Bitcoin's security platforms. This begs the question: Is Bitcoin at risk of being attacked by quantum technology?
Experts say that in the short term, Bitcoin is still safe, because to break security algorithms, quantum computers need millions of logical qubits, which is currently not possible. Willow only has 105 qubits, and while this is an important step forward, it is still very far from the real threat to Bitcoin.
Furthermore, breaking the SHA-256 algorithm, the foundation of Bitcoin's Proof-of-Work mechanism, which, while can be optimized using the Grover algorithm, still requires a huge number of qubits that current technology cannot meet.
However, this does not mean that Bitcoin will be forever immune to quantum technology. If in the future, quantum computers reach a scale large enough to crack Bitcoin's cryptography, the entire system could face serious security risks.
