Key Points
- River CEO, Alexander Leishman, argues that Bitcoin is more vulnerable to quantum computing threats than traditional banking systems.
- Despite the potential risk, quantum computing is not an immediate threat to Bitcoin.
River’s CEO, Alexander Leishman, reignites the discussion about the potential danger quantum computers pose to Bitcoin (BTC).
He contends that Bitcoin’s security is more compromised than that of conventional banks.
Bitcoin vs. Traditional Banking Systems
In a post on February 21, Leishman detailed that Bitcoin’s fund security relies solely on the private key.
He stated that once a public key is exposed, a quantum computer could effortlessly access the funds.
Leishman explained, “There is no layer of protection here for any address with a revealed public key. It is, BY FAR, the most ROI+ attack to perform if you have access to a QC no question.”
However, Leishman believes that the banking system is more secure.
While quantum computers could potentially disrupt HTTPS encryption, attackers would still need to intercept traffic and hijack DNS before accessing bank systems.
Additional Security Measures of Banks
Banks employ additional security measures such as IP whitelists and symmetric password authentication, which are not susceptible to quantum computers, according to Leishman.
He added, “Even if you do manage to pop a bank you need to get that money somewhere. Everything is very KYC’d with a lot of manual controls around large movements of funds. Good luck moving millions or billions without a human catching something.”
Despite the potential threat quantum computing poses to Bitcoin, it’s not an immediate concern.
However, recent advancements suggest that quantum computing may be closer than previously anticipated.
On February 19, Microsoft introduced a new quantum chip, asserting that quantum computing is “years, not decades” away.
The Majorana 1 chip is designed to lessen the error-prone nature of quantum computing and is supported by a scientific paper set to be published in Nature.
Despite some skepticism in the tech community about the timeline, companies like Google and IBM predict that large-scale quantum computers could be operational by 2033.
