- Quantum-resistant cryptography is available but currently too slow for widespread blockchain adoption.
- Darpa’s quantum benchmarking program is a key tool to gauge when quantum computing poses a practical risk.
- Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson favors a gradual mitigation strategy rather than immediate protocol changes.
- There are two main cryptographic approaches to post-quantum security: hash-based and lattice-based cryptography.
- Post-quantum cryptography often reduces blockchain performance by about 90% due to slower processing and larger proof sizes.
Charles Hoskinson, founder of Cardano, emphasized that the timing of adopting post-quantum cryptography is critical to blockchain networks’ functionality. While the technology to resist quantum attacks is standardized and available, he warned that implementing these measures prematurely could significantly reduce blockchain performance. This discussion took place amid ongoing debates about upgrading blockchain protocols to counter future quantum threats.
The 2024 post-quantum cryptography standards released by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology provide tools to secure blockchains against quantum computing attacks. However, these protocols are approximately ten times slower and require much larger proof sizes, which could reduce throughput substantially if adopted too early. Hoskinson warned, “If you adopt it, what you’re basically doing is taking the throughput of your blockchain and reducing it by cutting off a zero.”
Estimating when quantum computers will become powerful enough to break current cryptography varies widely, from a few years to over a decade. Instead of relying on corporate claims, Hoskinson recommended monitoring the progress of DARPA’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative, which sets 2033 as a target to assess the feasibility of useful quantum computing.
Like other major blockchains such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana, Cardano relies on elliptic-curve cryptography, vulnerable to quantum attacks by Shor’s algorithm if advanced quantum machines appear. Hoskinson identified two current post-quantum cryptographic approaches: hash-based and lattice-based cryptography. Hash-based cryptography uses cryptographic hash functions for digital signatures and is well-studied but is limited to signing, not general encryption. Lattice-based cryptography relies on complex math problems expected to resist quantum attacks and supports both digital signatures and encryption, making it more versatile for future needs.
Hoskinson advocated a staged mitigation approach rather than immediate protocol changes, including using post-quantum-signed checkpoints of Cardano’s ledger history with systems like Mithril and the privacy-focused Midnight sidechain. He cautioned that “Once you’ve made that decision, you’ve made that decision, and you live with the consequences.”
He highlighted the possibility of leveraging existing AI hardware for lattice-based cryptographic computations, enabling accelerated processing without building specialized hardware.
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