Quote from: niklas on December 12, 2012, 08:15:29 PM

Hi everyone,

does anyone have a clue about what would happen to bitcoin if someone figured how to build a working and usable quantum computer? I do not now much about these machines but a colleague of mine who is a physicist told me that every standard encryption encryption - which is used quite a lot in bitcoin, right? - could be cracked in no time.

Would this be the end of bitcoin?

Niklas

That depends on what he means by "standard encryption", what he means by "cracked", and what he means by "no time". It also depends on if he's right.

That being said, bitcoin will be the least of my worries if what he said is literally true. No more secure access to websites. No more secure banking. All the interbank transactions that occur right now would be compromised. The governments of the world could no longer communicate securely. Businesses could no longer secure trade secrets. All wi-fi networks suddenly unlocked.