One thing I dont understand in the whole discussion; if RSA or ECC are compromised in the future, we can upgrade existing systems of course (and well have to ... whole PKI will come tumbling down), but wont this make dormant wallets vulnerable? How are we going to prevent someone stealing the funds from there? Otherwise that will cause a huge drop in the value of Bitcoin. We cant put a wrapper or something around those wallets, right?
I am a tech guy, not an economist, so not sure if my reasoning makes sense!
------------------
It makes sense to be afraid, and this is a well-thought-out opinion of cryptography experts.
Not only that, it is openly spoken about by people who hold responsible positions in very well-known companies.
The situation here is complicated, because the cryptography itself on elliptic curves, on which the digital signature in Blockchain and Bitcoin is based, is weak and dangerous.
Read more about it here (second post of December 4):
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5204368.0But the second part - SHA256 remains reliable even when attacked by a quantum computer.
Because no computer will make a full search of all possible variants of binary number 256 bits long.
But, smart people have already invented and released a currency based on post quantum encryption methods.
I don't want to advertise it, but if the quantum computer starts working (although there are other, more serious concerns about cryptanalysis), the price of this crypt will rise quickly.