Bitcoin Q&A: Is Quantum Computing a Threat?

Is quantum computing a threat to Bitcoin? How can Bitcoin become more secure against a quantum computing attack? Will this upgrade require moving coins to new addresses? Will it be implemented as a soft or hard fork? What happens to coins controlled by lost keys?

CORRECTION: Apologies for the confusion - regarding the question of whether Satoshi's (suspected) coins would be vulnerable to a quantum computing attack on ECDSA, the correct answer is in the first clip at 3:05. While what I initially say at 6:10 is true, that Satoshi did not spend their coins, those coinbase transactions still used pay-to-public-key (P2PK) instead of pay-to-public-key-hash (P2PKH), which means the public keys are already exposed.

More about hashing and public key cryptography in Bitcoin: https://github.com/bitcoinbook/bitcoi...

Chapters
0:00 How can we safeguard bitcoin against quantum computing?
3:31 Satoshi's one million coins and quantum computing. Does quantum computing mean that, at some point, all lost coins could be reclaimed because they can't be moved to an upgraded address?
5:13 Quantum computing attacks will most likely affect the digital signature algorithm first

These questions are from the May monthly Patreon session and part of the Denver talk, which took place on May 26th and August 6th 2018 respectively. If you want early-access to talks and a chance to participate in the monthly live Q&As with Andreas, become a patron:   / aantonop  

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Andreas M. Antonopoulos is a technologist and serial entrepreneur who has become one of the most well-known and respected figures in bitcoin.

Follow on Twitter: @aantonop   / aantonop  
Website: https://antonopoulos.com/

He is the author of two books: “Mastering Bitcoin,” published by O’Reilly Media and considered the best technical guide to bitcoin; “The Internet of Money,” a book about why bitcoin matters.

THE INTERNET OF MONEY, v1: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Internet-Mon...

[NEW] THE INTERNET OF MONEY, v2: https://www.amazon.com/Internet-Money...

MASTERING BITCOIN: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mastering-Bi...

[NEW] MASTERING BITCOIN, 2nd Edition: https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Bitc...

Translations of MASTERING BITCOIN: https://bitcoinbook.info/translations...

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