Bitcoin and Quantum Computing: Nic Carter Explains the Threat and What To Do Next

Nic Carter, co-founder of Coin Metrics, argues that quantum computing presents the most significant long-term risk to Bitcoin's cryptography. He explains how Bitcoin’s private and public keys function through elliptic-curve mathematics, emphasizing that the security relies on a one-way transformation: it is easy to derive a public key from a private key but infeasible to reverse this process with current classical computers. However, advancements in quantum computing could potentially solve the discrete logarithm problem underlying Bitcoin’s security, increasing the risk of public key exposure when transactions are made. Carter advises users to avoid address reuse and to start considering post-quantum signature schemes to enhance security, framing these efforts as urgent engineering tasks rather than distant considerations. He plans to publish additional insights in the coming weeks, focusing on scenarios arising from quantum computing’s impact on Bitcoin.

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