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Here is a list of the most relevant facts and assumptions regarding my concern:

  1. Monero is a POW (proof-of-work) cryptocurrency.
  2. A risk of POW cryptos is the 51% attack, which is possible when a bad actor possesses the majority of the network's hashing power.
  3. Quantum computers will likely be many orders of magnitude faster than silicon-based (which I'll call "legacy") computers.
  4. A bad actor with a quantum computer would potentially pose a threat to a POW network otherwise solely maintained by legacy computers.
  5. The advent of the quantum computing era will contain a small timeframe - right at its inception - where very, very few people will have access to a quantum computer.
  6. One or more of those very, very early possessors of a quantum computer could be bad actors.

Based on the above facts and circumstances, I believe there to be a risk related to the transition from legacy to quantum computing that will eventually need to be addressed, if it hasn't been already. Does the monero community have a formal plan for blockchain integrity and wallet safety related to this risk? If so, what is it?

FYI, there is another SE question re: quantum computing here.

Community
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scoobybejesus
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1 Answers1

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The obvious answer: when we have proof that "QC-resistant" algorithms are actually resistant, we can adopt a new algorithm and roll it out in the next scheduled hard fork. At present, everything written about quantum computing and weaknesses of current cryptographic algorithms is purely speculative. The world's most powerful quantum computer hasn't actually proven to be usable for cracking any crypto algorithms yet. http://www.wired.com/2015/09/googles-quantum-computer-just-got-a-big-upgrade-1000-qubits/

hyc
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