Elon Musk Warns of Security Threat from Quantum Computers

Elon Musk has warned of the threat of decryption posed by quantum computers. On X (formerly Twitter) on the 31st of last month, he pointed out these risks while participating in a discussion that quantum computers could decrypt the encryption systems of crypto assets such as Bitcoin. The discussion was sparked by a post from a venture capital firm representative, which claimed that Google had increased the resource efficiency required for Bitcoin decryption by 20 times. Musk remarked, "On the bright side, forgotten wallets could be reopened in the future."

According to research released by Google, it has been suggested that with fewer than 500,000 physical qubits, the widely used ECC-256, or elliptic curve cryptography, could potentially be decrypted within minutes. A threat scenario that experts are particularly watching is the 'Store Now, Decrypt Later' method, which involves collecting and storing currently encrypted data in advance, and then decrypting it in bulk once quantum computing technology has sufficiently advanced. Experts predict the early 2030s as the timeframe for this decryption to become possible.

The blockchain industry is also taking steps to respond. Ethereum is building a separate security upgrade system, and the Bitcoin community is accelerating discussions on related proposals for the adoption of quantum-resistant address systems.