Quantum computers should be powerful enough to crack Bitcoin’s security features—by instantly solving the mining mechanism or guessing wallet passwords by brute force—shortly after 2030, according to the CEO of a company working in partnership with Nvidia on its quantum computing efforts.
Quantum technology is not yet good enough to pose a threat to cryptocurrency, but it is getting there, Théau Peronnin, the CEO of Alice & Bob, told Fortune at Web Summit in Lisbon. (The company’s name is based on a joke about cryptography texts, which often state problems by using two fictional characters, Alice and Bob, who need to communicate with each other in secret.)
A&B—backed by about $150 million in venture capital—is developing a “fault-tolerant quantum computing” system with Nvidia. In classical computing, circuits at their most basic level are simple: Their gates are either open or closed, signaling a 1 or a 0. Quantum computing, however, uses a state of quantum physics known as “quantum uncertainty.” At an atomic level, a particle can exist as both matter and energy simultaneously. A computer using quantum principles can thus calculate as if it is representing 1 or 0 at the same time—allowing it to perform multiple tasks at the same time rather than in sequential order, and radically increasing the computer’s processing power.
