5 hours ago
Project Eleven has raised $6 cardinal to support bitcoin BTC from the existential menace of quantum computing, arsenic fears equine that the network’s halfway cryptography could 1 time beryllium rendered obsolete.
The circular was co-led by Variant Fund and Quantonation, with information from Castle Island Ventures alongside founding investors Nebular and Formation, according to a release.
"As quantum computing capabilities advance, the menace to systems similar Bitcoin is nary longer theoretical, it's imminent," Alex Pruden, CEO of Project Eleven, said successful a release.
"This backing allows america to enactment up of that curve, gathering the tools, standards, and ecosystem required to guarantee integer assets stay unafraid successful a post-quantum world,” Pruden said.
Earlier this year, Project Eleven launched the Q-Day Prize, offering 1 BTC to the archetypal squad that tin interruption Bitcoin’s elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) utilizing a quantum computer.
“We specify Q-Day arsenic the infinitesimal erstwhile quantum computers go susceptible of breaking the elliptic-curve cryptography that secures backstage keys utilized by Bitcoin,” said Conor Deegan, co-founder and VP of Engineering astatine Project Eleven successful a release.
Project Eleven besides announced it is launching Yellowpages a post-quantum cryptographic registry wherever users tin make hybrid cardinal pairs, make proofs linking them to their existing BTC addresses, and timestamp those proofs connected a verifiable ledger.
Yellowpages works by having users make a caller cardinal brace utilizing post-quantum cryptographic algorithms, specified arsenic lattice-based systems, that are resistant to the types of attacks a aboriginal quantum machine could launch.
They past make a cryptographic impervious linking this quantum-safe cardinal to their existing BTC address. That impervious is timestamped and stored successful Yellowpages, a nationalist registry hosted off-chain.
It doesn’t determination funds oregon change thing connected the Bitcoin blockchain, but creates a verifiable insubstantial way of wallet ownership that could service arsenic a fallback if elliptic curve cryptography is ever broken.
“Preparing up of Q-Day means ensuring that integer assets stay unafraid and verifiable successful a post-quantum world. With Yellowpages, we’re giving users free, audited, and open-source tools to proactively found quantum-resilient ownership today,” Deegan continued.
Securing BTC against quantum done consensus
The attack contrasts with solutions similar QRAMP, a Bitcoin Improvement Proposal that mandates a hard-fork migration to quantum-safe addresses.
While effectual successful theory, QRAMP and akin proposals look a precocious obstruction to adoption due to the fact that they would necessitate consensus, a gangly bid successful a governance situation known for caution.
Ethereum’s multi-year travel to Proof-of-Stake and Bitcoin’s caller OP_RETURN debate are reminders of conscionable however dilatory protocol alteration tin be, and immoderate analysts person warned that the slow governance process is simply a menace itself.
This way would bypass the request for consensus, portion besides facilitating the wide adoption of quantum defenses.
As Rick Maeda of Presto Research recently warned successful an interrogation with CoinDesk, quantum defenses indispensable beryllium built linearly, not reactively, due to the fact that by the clip the menace is real, it’s already excessively late.
Project Eleven’s latest moves suggest immoderate successful the crypto manufacture are taking this menace earnestly portion acknowledging the weakness of existent methods.
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