Blockchain Industry Prepares for Quantum Threats
The crypto industry is moving beyond speculation about quantum threats and treating migration to post-quantum cryptography as an engineering priority. This shift does not rely on discovering new mathematical structures, but rather adopting computational problems that have been studied for decades.
Most blockchain networks use ECDSA for transaction signatures, which relies on the elliptic curve discrete logarithm problem (ECDLP). However, a quantum computer with sufficient size running Shor's algorithm could solve ECDLP in polynomial time, compromising funds associated with addresses with visible public keys.
The threat is not hypothetical, as it was established in 1994. The uncertainty lies in the engineering aspect: the number of physical qubits with error correction and timeline. Planning for defense should not depend on estimated dates but rather certainty of the result.