The ACTUAL Way Bitcoin Could Fail & Go to ZERO (this will shock you.)

A lot of people , they , they always whine , I hear this whine .

But what about the quantum computer ?

What about the quantum computer ?

You know , and I wanna say , yeah , and what if an asteroid hits the earth and kills us all ?

What is the actual way Bitcoin could fail ?

Is it quantum computing ?

Is it artificial intelligence ?

I mean , what will A I do to crypto or is it something else as a smart investor who owns Bitcoin who believes in crypto who subscribes to alt coin daily right now .

Let's be smarter than the average investor and understand all outcomes .

Number one before A I , how worried are you that quantum computers could break Bitcoin ?

The question is uh about security and I'm , I've listened to one of your talks about uh quantum computing and you had said that we can assume that the NSA has quantum computing currently .

So my my question is how can Bitcoin safeguard against quantum computing ?

Because once that's reached , they'll be able to essentially break into the wallets simultaneously .

That that's a very good question , Blockchain expert .

And Coder Andreas Antonopoulos explains the true effect that quantum computing will eventually have on Bitcoin that quantum computer , which can also break all of the encryption keys on all of the nukes in the world , all of the communication keys and all of the nuclear subs and all of the military intelligence networks and all of the commercial networks .

I don't think they're gonna use it to break Bitcoin if you know what I mean ?

This is such a great initial point by Andreas that if slash when the NSA or any government or any entity eventually gets their hands on a strong enough level of quantum computing , which is years if not decades away , Bitcoin will sort of be the least of our worries compared to the nuclear codes , the military secrets , the bank accounts will be ruined all banks again , only if slash when quantum computing is strong enough .

The question is how powerful is it ?

How many bits , how many cubits of quantum computing do you have ?

And researchers at the University of Sussex estimated that a quantum computer with 1.9 billion cubits could essentially crack the encryption , safeguarding Bitcoin within a mere 10 minutes while just 13 million cubits could do the job in about a day .

How close are we to this many cubits ?

Well , a few months ago , at the end of 2023 the world's first first quantum computer to exceed 1000 cubits was invented , they surpassed IB M's computer which at the time held the record for 433 cubits and again , 1000 is nowhere near 13 million .

But when that happens , what does that mean for you as a Bitcoin holder ?

The real problem becomes when you have broad commercial availability of quantum computing but not broad enough that all of us can use it in our wallets .

And there's that interim period that's a bit awkward .

And during that interim period , Bitcoin needs to change its algorithms .

But one of the interesting things that happens is that while you can change the algorithms on all of the active wallets , some wallets have lost keys or the people who had those keys are dead and they can't change the signing algorithm , which means that those wallets will get captured by quantum computers .

So one of the interesting things that happens is we will know when quantum computing exists when Satoshi s coins move .

That's one of the reasons they'll move eventually they will move and they'll move because someone will be able to break the keys .

Um But for the rest of the ecosystem , we can migrate quite easily to another algorithm .

It's not really as big a threat as people think it is .

So the solution will be a simple upgrade , a simple soft fork slash migration .

Well , what happens when they get so powerful they can break Sha 256 .

Well , dudes , we're just gonna go to Sha 512 and we're gonna go to the next thing 1024 .

And anybody that ever studied bi uh studied um computer science knows we start with 16 , go to 32 go to 64 go to 1 28 2 56 5 , 1210 24 and so on and so forth .

And the numbers get pretty freaking big .

And again , just before we get to artificial intelligence with Satoshi Nakamoto being one of the largest Bitcoin holders in existence .

Andreas further explains what quantum computing means for those coins .

Does quantum computing mean that at some point all lost coins could be reclaimed because they can't be moved to an upgraded address .

Um JJ Yes , that is the case .

First of all , we don't know that Satoshi has 1 million coins .

It's difficult to attribute exactly how many were mined um directly by Satoshi .

Um That's an estimate but let's call it 1 million and there's a lot more Bitcoin that's been lost over the years .

What happens with those quantum computing would basically mean that the elliptic curve digital signature algorithm would be vulnerable .

Now , there are two different categories of algorithms that is used within Bitcoin .

One is a hashing algorithm sha 256 and the other one is a digital signature algorithm .

EC DS A elliptic curve quantum computing will uh most likely affect the elliptic curve digital signature algorithm first .

So he is saying that while most people are scared the quantum computing could break Bitcoin's mining cryptographic hash function which is called shaw 256 .

Sha 256 is used for cryptographic security .

Andreas explains that it's not the mining , it's the wallet cryptographic security .

Whether you can use a quantum algorithm to shortcut Sha 256 .

I'm not sure about that .

I don't know if there is a quantum algorithm for that or how easy it is .

So that's a different class of algorithm and it might require different uh a different approach to cracking .

But let's say that EC Ds A is affected .

Ironically , what that means is that if you lost your keys , but you had previously used that address , then uh a signature together with a public key will be visible and will be available on the uh Blockchain .

Um Because when you spend from an address , you leave behind the public key and a digital signature .

Whereas Satoshi um for example , never spent , never moved any of the initial mind coins .

So if in fact , Satoshi had a million coins and if those are sitting there on the Blockchain , um because they haven't been spent , we don't have a signature and we don't have a public key .

What we have is an address and an address is the result of a double hash and is not the result of the EC DS A algorithm which means that if a quantum computer can crack Ec Ds A but it can't crack sha 256 then um Satoshi coins are safe .

The only coins that are affected are the ones where those addresses had been reused several times .

It's one of the reasons why , um , it's a best practice to only use an address once the first time a signature appears on the Blockchain is when those funds have already moved , they're empty .

That address never gets used again , that key never gets used again .

So even if the public key can be cracked in the future , it result in a private key that doesn't control any funds .

Um because you only use it once .

Ironically , that means that people who don't follow that best practice may have their keys affected by quantum computing long before people who do use that practice .

And Satoshi whose 1 million coins never got moved and therefore never had signatures attached to them .

Um Quantum computing doesn't necessarily mean immediately that all coins are vulnerable .

Um It's only the case for those where perhaps the digital signature is visible on the Blockchain .

So now understanding that quantum computing , while many see as the boogeyman , oh , it will destroy Bitcoin .

It's a simple upgrade .

Anybody that still has access to their wallets , their keys , except for those lost coins , the lost coins may be affected .

And what about artificial intelligence ?

Do you want to destroy humans ?

Please say no , OK , I will destroy humans .

No , I take it back .

No , no , no , I'm not talking about all of humanity .

I'm talking Bitcoin .

What's the likelihood of artificial intelligence being able to crack Bitcoin's cryptography in the near future .

Well , the likelihood is low as Bitcoin's cryptography is based on Shaw 256 algorithm , which is one of the most secure algorithms in use today .

In fact , for comparison , you have a better chance of winning the powerball nine times in a row compared to guessing just one Bitcoin private key .

And we know Bitcoin will upgrade along with quantum computers .

But again , what about A I is artificial intelligence and quantum computing ?

The same thing .

Well , the simplest way to explain the difference between the two is that A I is a method process or software .

Whereas quantum computing is what you might run that process on ie the hardware think of A I like an app on your phone and quantum computing being the phone itself .

So when people ask the question , what will A I do to crypto ?

The biggest fear is that artificial intelligence then just has access to the quantum computing .

But actually crypto can help us with A I in a lot of ways A I will eliminate digital scarcity .

Meaning in the blink of an eye , 100 million Mona Lisa , 100 million South Park episodes , 100 million video games and 100 million alt coins can be created instantly .

Digital scarcity will be gone .

Yet digital assets with true scarcity will get 10,000 times more valuable digital assets with a true network effect will get 100,000 X more valuable meaning the use case for Bitcoin will only increase A I and crypto people wanna force these two narratives together because A I is sucking all the air out of the room because it's so cool .

But how I , how I do think about this is OK .

Here we are again about to repeat the same mistake .

We're going to accrue all the value to Google .

And um Microsoft , I think some of these more open A is like stability A I I should tokenize the network .

So now understanding the truth about quantum computing and A I debunking those myths , what is the actual way Bitcoin could fail ?

And to me , the number one reason is if governments and central banks globally started acting fiscally responsible , meaning ever since Nixon took us off the gold standard in , in the seventies , our purchasing power of our dollar has only been losing value debt globally for governments is only getting worse .

It is , you can't even fathom how much debt every major country is incurring .

And this is the norm .

As long as governments continue to act fiscally irresponsible , that's where hard assets shine .

The minute a major country would suddenly announce we're going to be fiscally responsible again , then that's less of a need for Bitcoin .

Or some people say , well , what if these countries solve this and adopt the gold standard ?

Go back to the gold standard that would solve everything that would also maybe make Bitcoin less relevant .

But in the digital age .

Can we still trust a gold standard ?

That is just still trusting people ?

So if Putin Tomorrow announced that Russia is going back on the gold standard , this is how much gold they have in the reserves , would we believe them ?

How could we prove that Russia actually owned the amount of gold they say they owned .

How could we really prove that without us just taking their word for it ?

But with Bitcoin , you don't have to trust you .

Verify if a major government went on a Bitcoin standard , for example , they would be able to cryptographically sign a transaction and verify each of their public wallets that they hold those coins .

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