Bitcoin encryption could be broken by futuristic quantum computers, researchers predict

Sign up to our free weekly IndyTech newsletter delivered straight to your inbox Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Quantum computers able to break bitcoin encryption will be “achievable” with “future advancements”, researchers say. Quantum computers work by replacing traditional bits – the ‘1’s’ and ‘0’s’ used to encode digital information – with quantum bits, or qubits. We introduce extra qubits as needed to reach the desired runtime, which is critically dependent on the rate of operations at the physical hardware level.” Most quantum computers are limited because only the qubits next to one another can interact. “Our estimated requirement of 30 to 300 million physical qubits suggests Bitcoin should be considered safe from a quantum attack for now, but devices of this size are generally considered achievable, and future advancements may bring the requirements down further.’ Bitcoin may be able to perform a ‘hard-fork’ to a quantum-secure encryption technique, but the increased memory requirements could cause network scaling issues.