Coinbase Research Director: Wallets holding approximately one-third of the Bitcoin supply are vulnerable to quantum attacks.
PANews reported on January 6th, citing DL News, that David Duong, Global Head of Investment Research at Coinbase, warned that Bitcoin's long-term security is heading into uncharted territory, with quantum computing advancing faster than the cryptocurrency industry anticipated. Duong believes that while a direct attack on Bitcoin is not yet imminent, the quantum threat has evolved from a theoretical hypothesis into a real structural risk—wallets holding approximately one-third of the Bitcoin supply use publicly visible encrypted output formats, making them highly vulnerable to brute-force attacks.
Duong stated that quantum computers pose two risks. One is economic: if quantum machines become powerful enough, they could mine Bitcoin blocks with efficiency far exceeding current levels, potentially distorting the network's incentive mechanisms. The second risk is more immediate: quantum computers could derive private keys from exposed public keys, allowing attackers to steal funds from vulnerable addresses. Duong wrote, "Given current scalability limitations, quantum mining remains a lower priority concern; signature security is the core issue." Quantum computing is still in its early stages. Researchers have long disagreed on whether and when quantum computers would threaten Bitcoin's cryptography.
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