Google announced that it has achieved a verifiable “quantum advantage” using its Willow chip to perform a calculation that would take classical supercomputers thousands of times longer to complete.
This reported advancement could reignite discussions in the cryptocurrency community about the potential negative impacts of quantum computing on Bitcoin, whose functionality and security rely on cryptographic methods that could be endangered by quantum technologies.
The chip is said to have simulated quantum chaos in a mere two hours by measuring Out-of-Time-Order Correlators (OTOCs), which are essential for monitoring the erratic behavior of particles.
Experts suggest that this milestone brings quantum computing closer to real-world applications, such as Hamiltonian learning, where quantum devices could aid in modeling intricate molecular structures that current technologies cannot manage.
For the cryptocurrency sector, this discovery is noteworthy but not a cause for panic. While quantum computing might one day threaten Bitcoin’s cryptographic underpinnings, most specialists believe that such a scenario is still far off.
“Currently, there’s no indication that any computer, even specialized ones, can break modern cryptography,” stated Kostas Kryptos Chalkias, co-founder and chief cryptographer of Mysten Labs, in a recent interview with CoinDesk. “We are at least a decade away from that.”
Following the release of its research, shares of Google’s parent company Alphabet (GOOG) rose by 1.5%, though they later returned to previous levels. At the time of this writing, GOOG is just above $253, reflecting a 0.7% increase for the day.
Bitcoin saw a slight increase in tandem with GOOG, rising 0.7% to just below $109,000 before retracting. BTC is down 4% over the last 24 hours, resting at approximately $108,150 according to CoinDesk data.
