“Not only bitcoin will be exposed, but the entire global security system,” he says.
Some governments are already working to promote post-quantum cryptography.
Ulises Arranz Cuéllar, a Spanish computer scientist and university professor, warns that this represents an imminent risk to the stability of the Bitcoin network and the global financial system.
In a conversation with CriptoNoticias, he pointed out that the ability of quantum computers to break current cryptographic systems puts not only digital currencies in check, but the entire global security infrastructure.
“The quantum threat is real and imminent for Bitcoin as for the rest of current cryptography,” said Arranz Cuéllar.
He explained that encryption algorithms like RSA, based on the difficulty of factoring large numbers, are vulnerable to Shor’s algorithma quantum method that allows these calculations to be solved exponentially faster than classical computers.
«If these keys are broken, not only Bitcoin and digital currencies will be exposed. The entire global security and cryptography system that it supports, from banks to any type of company, and governments will be exposed.
Ulises Arranz Cuéllar, specialist in quantum computing.
The also professor at the Polytechnic University of Madrid stressed that Risk is not limited to real-time transactions. All information stored and encrypted with these methods, which covers virtually all data in electronic format, could be compromised.
“The magnitude of the risk is immense, so the impact on Bitcoin and digital currencies is only a small subset of something much larger,” he emphasized.
Faced with this threat, Arranz Cuéllar highlighted that Governments such as those of the United States and the European Union promote migration towards post-quantum cryptographydesigned to resist quantum computer attacks. The United States National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) leads efforts to develop robust encryption algorithms, as reported by CriptoNoticias.
This transition, stated the engineer, is a path that Bitcoin and cryptocurrency networks will also have to follow. Looking ahead, the adoption of post-quantum cryptography will be crucial to protecting financial and digital systems, so these sectors must accelerate their efforts to adapt to this new technological reality.