Could China and quantum computing be Bitcoin’s downfall?

China has recently matched Google’s ‘quantum supremacy’

Bitcoin is the most popular and biggest cryptocurrency in the world. It rewards those who find solutions to complex hashing puzzles and the possibility of finding a solution will be determined by the amount of total mining power on the network. Basically, Bitcoin utilises complex mathematical equations to guarantee its supply and transactions.

Bitcoin has seen a number of rises in price over the year, setting new highs in 2020 while also breaking the $30,000 barrier on its 12th anniversary.

However, Bitcoin is constantly at risk whether it be from doubters or major co-operations. For example, in 2019, Google announced that it was able to build a quantum computer which could solve impossible mathematical calculations.

This completely stunned the internet and some people feared that Bitcoin may be put at risk. Fortunately enough, this did not stop Bitcoin from registering records throughout 2020.

Having said that, the future of Bitcoin is under a new threat as China claims to have matched Google’s so-called ‘quantum supremacy’. China is known to be adverse to Bitcoin and any currency which is not centralised.

A team of researchers in China released a statement published in the journal Science stating that:

‘This achievement firmly established our country’s leading position in international quantum computing research.’

The group of researchers declared that the ‘Jiuzhang’ prototype quantum computer took just over 3 minutes to complete a task. In comparison, this task would be solved in over 600 million years by the world’s fastest traditional computer.

The rapid development of China and quantum computer research could soon have real-world consequences, even though the ‘Jiuzhang’ prototype is still unable to decode encrypted information, according to a quantum researcher on the South China Morning Post.

As seen on Forbes, several other experts from around the world had their say on quantum computing:

Lu Chaoyang, a professor in charge of the experiment at USTC:

Scientists are close to useful quantum machines that can do something non-trivial.

Richard Murray (pictured) – Chief Executive of computing company ORCA:

There are still people who question whether quantum computers will be a reality. With two systems [Google’s and China’s] having achieved this benchmark, that argument is sounding quite unlikely.

Blockchain and Cryptography researchers at Deloitte:

Quantum computers are posing a serious challenge to the security of the bitcoin blockchain. Quantum computers might eventually become so fast that they will undermine the bitcoin transaction process. In this case the security of the bitcoin blockchain will be fundamentally broken.

George Gilder, expert in technology, economic growth and prosperity, via the Mind Matters podcast:

Quantum computing is a very special purpose machine. You may be able to to build [a quantum computer] that can break one form of encryption but there are all sorts of ways to circumvent the threat that quantum computing poses to bitcoin and other such encryption-based technologies.

Even though China has taken the top position in regards to quantum computing, Bitcoin is still considered to be safe but investors should keep an eye on the volatile market.

Source: Forbes

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