A new blog post appeared on Jameson Lopp
Against Allowing Quantum Recovery of BitcoinIn this article, Jameson Lopp addresses the potential threat quantum computing poses to Bitcoin's security. Jameson outlines scenarios where quantum computers could potentially exploit Bitcoin's current cryptographic vulnerabilities to access funds, especially those in addresses with exposed public keys.
Lopp argues that permitting such quantum-based recovery would lead to wealth redistribution favouring entities with early access to quantum technology, undermining Bitcoin's principles of decentralisation and property rights.
He proposes some measures, such as implementing quantum-resistant cryptographic schemes, something that is relatively trivial, but above all, potentially rendering vulnerable funds (such as Patoshi funds), unspendable, to preserve the network's integrity and trust:
It is obvious that Jameson Lopp is trying to push for the protection of Bitcoin from those who could use the early power of quantum computers to deopardize and steal Bitcoin from vulnerability wallets. There is need for the government to control the development of quantum computers so it wouldn't be used to steal from old or reused wallets that are vulnerable to attack and exploit.
I don't think there's anything we can do aside from finding ways to make sure this doesn't happen. We can stop billionaire corporations from building quantum computers and the fact they assure us that they will do no sure thing isn't enough. We also can't rely on the government to regulate them.
I personally don't think its something to be scared about because for now it's beyond expensive to build a quantum computer and I doubt any company that manages to do it will involve themselves in such a risky act.
Quantum computing is quite an expensive technology and I've heard that countries like USA, China including private companies like Microsoft, Google, Amazon etc are spending billions of dollars on Quantum technologies research. Maybe soon we could start seeing the use of this computer that has higher performances than the super computers.
This has been one of the things Jameson Lopp was emphasizing on because he knows that by the time the quantum computer has reached the final stage where it could be used to break codes and sophisticated computations, it could have a vast implication on the Bitcoin Elliptic Curve Cryptography(ECC) which is responsible for the security of every transaction. We all need to stand in support of Bitcoin and the government ought to create implementations that will not compromise the Bitcoin cryptographic security that could be breached by the time the quantum computer is in full operational stage.