

Ask HN: If P = NP is Bitcoin doomed to fail? - NotNakamoto


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lacker
It depends. If it turns out that every NP problem has an O(n^1000) solution,
but no better, then P = NP but it won't matter much in practice. On the other
hand, if every NP problem has an O(n) solution, then the entire field
cryptography will be thrown into disarray. Not just Bitcoin but SSL and secure
hashing will be in trouble.

If I were you, I wouldn't worry about the "P = NP" case. It is much more
likely than an application-specific attack is found.

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warrenmar
When someone can run Shor's algorithm on a quantum computer, someone will
become very rich and the world will change.

Although I think quantum encryption will become common place before someone
builds quantum computer with enough qubits to factor large numbers.

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sumguysr
My understanding is bitcoin uses elliptic curve cryptography which isn't
vulnerable to Shor's algorithm.

Certainly there are many systems that will be vulnerable to quantum computers,
but very common systems like TLS can be upgraded to ECC without much trouble,
and other systems will have to be replaced. It seems unlikely to me that the
second quantum computer capable of factoring multiples of large primes will be
sold before the majority of vulnerable systems are upgraded or replaced.

