Crypto entrepreneur Nic Carter has urged Bitcoin developers to catch up on quantum resistance or risk losing to Ethereum, which already has a post-quantum roadmap.
Elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) is the mathematics that keeps Bitcoin (BTC) safe and sound. Users select a secret number (private key) and using a special curved line and uncomplicated multiplication rules on that line, they can quickly create a public address evident to everyone.
There are concerns that quantum computers will be able to break this cryptography. The Bitcoin community is divided on how to deal with this, with some advocating for the modernization of cryptography while others argue that intervention would violate Bitcoin’s founding principles.
“Elliptic curve cryptography is on the brink of obsolescence,” Carter, founder and partner of Castle Island Ventures, said Thursday at X. “Whether it’s three years or 10 years, it’s over and we have to accept it.”
“The only thing that matters is how quickly blockchain developers realize they need to implement cryptographic volatility on their networks.”
Carter argues that there will need to be a “complete rethink” of how these systems work and that currently cryptography is hard-coded. “This will have to change,” he added.
ARK Invest stated in a March 11 article that about one-third of all BTC is at risk of quantum risk, but added that this is a “long-term risk.”
Ethereum has an advantage, says Carter
Carter said Ethereum developers are already working on this with a modern security team, linking to a detailed post-quantum action plan by 2029, which was considered the “highest strategic priority”.
“The ETH people already understand this. Everyone else seems paralyzed with fear. If something doesn’t change soon, ETHBTC will start to reflect a misalignment in prioritization.”
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said in behind schedule February that validator signatures, data storage, accounts and proofs must change to prepare for quantum threats, while proposing a roadmap to address quantum resistance.
Related: Vitalik Buterin presents a quantum resistance roadmap for Ethereum
At the same time, Carter had done it before he claimed to X that Bitcoin Core developers are ignoring quantum-related proposals like BIP-360.
Carter again slammed Bitcoin’s developers in his latest thread on X, claiming they have a “worst-in-class approach” and “denial, gaslight, gatekeeper, bury their heads in the sand, say ‘the community will decide,’ and then refuse to accept feedback from the community when it’s offered.”
Ethan Heilman, co-author of BIP-360, he replied in February that key contributors were engaged in the Bitcoin improvement proposal and that BIP-360 received “more comments than any other BIP in BIP history.”
Google warns of quantum threat to digital signatures
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Google upped the ante by setting a 2029 deadline for migrating to post-quantum cryptography.
The search giant warned that quantum computers “will pose a serious threat” to current cryptographic standards, and “in particular to encryption and digital signatures.”
Warehouse: No one knows if quantum-secure cryptography will even work
