Tezos founder slams ‘half-baked’ Bitcoin quantum theory, tests post-quantum privacy

Although there are no practical quantum computers that can break modern codes yet, some in the crypto industry treat quantum computing like a conspiracy theory while ignoring blockchain’s legitimate threats to privacy, Tezos co-founder Arthur Brightman said.

The warning came as Tezos launched TzEL, a post-quantum privacy system designed to protect private payments and encrypted transaction data from future “harvest now, decrypt later” attacks, on its testnet. Breitman said Tezos is acting with a “sense of urgency,” but in his view some parts of the industry remain complacent about the quantum threat.

“Some projects are barely maintained and never upgraded. But the important ones are almost always upgraded in a timely manner,” Brightman said. decryption.

Brightman took particular issue with sections of the Bitcoin community promoting what he called pseudoscientific theories about quantum computing.

“There are Bitcoin enthusiasts being praised on stage for half-baked theories about quantum mechanics that go against established physics,” he said.

The cultural debate centers on whether blockchain networks should start preparing now for a future in which quantum computers have the potential to break elliptic curve cryptography, which is widely used across cryptocurrencies today.

This concern is particularly acute because blockchain data is persistent. By design, transactions and other data are publicly stored on-chain indefinitely, creating the potential for what security researchers call a “collect now, decrypt later” attack.

In such a scenario, an attacker would collect blockchain data in the form of public keys and store it until a quantum computer is strong enough to break the encryption protecting the blockchain data. As a result, private keys can be exposed and funds stolen.

However, one of the challenges facing post-quantum privacy systems is scale. The quantum-resistant zk-STARK proof is significantly larger than the proofs used in many existing blockchain privacy tools, creating storage and throughput issues. Brightman said Tezos has the ability to meet that challenge.

“Post-quantum shield transactions can take up a lot of space,” he says. “Tezos has a working data availability layer that can absorb data without increasing the load on consensus nodes.”

The project is still experimental, and Brightman said there are still several steps that need to be taken before broader deployment. He added that Tezos has also begun rolling out post-quantum signature support for user accounts as part of a broader effort to prepare the network for future threats.

“The fact that encrypted notes can be decrypted in the future means it’s worth making the switch early,” Brightman said. “Efforts to post-quantize Tezos as a whole are active and underway.”

Breitman argued that the industry still has time to prepare for quantum threats, but warned that developers are underestimating how quickly that window will close. His comments also come as a recent report from quantum security company Project Eleven warns that Q-Day, when quantum computers will be able to crack modern codes, could arrive as early as 2030.

“The main risk is developer complacency,” he says. “The elliptic curve signature won’t be broken in a few months, but there’s a good chance it will be broken in a few years. There’s plenty of time left to upgrade, but not enough time to quibble.”