Kathmandu. Encryption technology, which is considered “vulnerable” to protect digital currencies, may no longer be secure, a new study suggests.
A recent report by Google’s ‘Quantum AI’ team claims that the security circle of systems like Bitcoin and Ethereum can be broken in a very short time. This has forced digital investors and policymakers around the world to rethink their financial safety nets.
Quantum Computer and the 9-Minute Challenge
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Until now, it was believed that no one could hack the Bitcoin network. But researchers at Google have come up with a powerful computer design that can detect Bitcoin’s private key in just 9 minutes. Interestingly, it takes an average of 10 minutes to verify a transaction of Bitcoin. If the security key is stolen within 9 minutes, there is a risk that the money could be sent from the real user’s account.
Faster than the old estimate
According to earlier estimates, a computer with about 10 million qubits (units measuring quantum capacity) would be needed to carry out such an attack. However, Google’s latest research has shown that only a machine with a capacity of 5 lakh qubits can do this work. This means that even machines 20 times smaller than we thought could put the world’s digital assets at risk. By 2029, Google aims to upgrade its entire system to protect it from such attacks.
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Although cryptocurrency is officially banned in Nepal, many Nepalis are involved in it informally. If the credibility and security of Bitcoin are questioned globally, it can have a direct impact on Nepali investors and digital remittance channels. The challenge of adopting ‘quantum-secure’ technology has already been added to Nepal’s development of its own ‘digital currency’ or online banking system.
This disclosure of Google does not mean that Bitcoin will die immediately. Instead, it’s trying to wake up the tech world in time. In the next few years, the old security systems may become obsolete. So it’s not enough just to save the wallet’s code. Now it will be even more important which technology-based wallet to use.
