According to Alex Pruden, CEO of Project 11, the cryptocurrency industry is dangerously unprepared for quantum computing as a threat.
In an interview on the Wolf of All Streets podcast Wednesday, Pruden broke down the exact mechanics of how a quantum computer could unravel Bitcoin‘s (CRYPTO: BTC) foundational cryptography, putting approximately 6.7 million BTC at risk of theft.
The Google Breakthrough: Moving The Goalposts
The catalyst for the current panic is a research paper published by Google, which outlines how attackers could crack Bitcoin’s private keys much faster — and with significantly fewer resources — than previously believed.
“This paper is really about lowering the bar or moving the goalposts closer,” Pruden explained.
“If you look at the cryptographers for Bitcoin and specifically look at our architecture and do a bunch of tricks, you can lower that bar way down.”
The Google paper suggests that an optimized quantum computer could crack a private key in roughly 9 minutes — slightly faster than Bitcoin’s average 10-minute block time.
This means …