The Quantum Threat to Bitcoin with Quantum Physicist Dr. Stepan Snigirev

Interview location: Munich
Interview date: Saturday 1st Jun, 2019
Company: Crypto Advance
Role: CTO & co-founder

Cryptography is the art of writing or solving codes, and there are several technologies which enable Bitcoin to function. When choosing to send Bitcoin to someone, a transaction is broadcast using the new owners public key and signed with the senders private key, and it is the senders private key which confirms to the network that the transaction is authentic. Further, a hashcash function is used to preserve the integrity of the blockchain.

“With this framework, we are able to achieve the essential functions of the Bitcoin system. We have verifiable ownership of bitcoins, and a distributed database of all transactions, which prevents double spending.”

The cryptographic protocols are hard to crack, which maintains the security of Bitcoin, but quantum computers pose a threat to this as they would be able to solve these problems easily.

In this interview, I chat with Stepan Snigirev about the quantum threat to Bitcoin. Having left his role as a quantum physicist to work on Bitcoin, Stepan is ideally placed to discuss the topic. Stepan explains the weird world of quantum mechanics, the status of quantum computing and the threat it poses to Bitcoin.

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Helpful Links:

Connect with Stepan:
- On Twitter @StepanSnigirev
- On Medium
- On LinkedIn
- On GitHub
- On CrunchBase
- Google Scolar Citations
- At Crypto Advance

Connect with BHB Network:
- Website: https://www.blockchainlab.it/
- On Twitter
- On Medium
- On LinkedIn

Mentioned in the interview:
- What Is Quantum Mechanics?
- What is Quantum Computing
- Quantum Computing and Bitcoin

Relevant articles:
- What are quantum computers and how do they work? WIRED explains
- UK government to invest £153m in quantum computing
- Serious quantum computers are finally here. What are we going to do with them?
- Quantum Computers Pose Imminent Threat to Bitcoin Security
- No, IBM’s Quantum Computer won’t break Bitcoin, but we should be prepared for one that can
- Quantum computers could crack Bitcoin, but fixes are available now
- The New Ways to Save Crypto from Quantum

Other relevant WBD podcasts:
- WBD110: Andrew Poelstra on Schnorr, Taproot & Graft Root Coming to Bitcoin
- WBD109: Luke Dashjr on 300k Blocks and Full Nodes
- WBD107: Daniel Buchner on Why Microsoft is Building Decentralised IDs on Bitcoin
- WBD106: Bitcoin Block Reorgs Explained with Adam Back and Bryan Bishop
- WBD085: Andrew Poelstra on Bitcoin Math & Research
- WBD074: How Bitcoin Works with Matt Corallo
- WBD057: Core Developer Bryan Bishop on Building Bitcoin
- WBD047: Adam Back on a Decade of Bitcoin

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