Blockstream Unveils SHRINCS to Protect Bitcoin From Quantum Threats

TL;DR:

• Blockstream published a technical proposal called SHRINCS to protect Bitcoin transactions against quantum computers.
• SHRINCS would process around three transactions per second, compared to the 0.36 allowed by the post-quantum scheme standardized by NIST.
• The Blockstream proposal was designed by Jonas Nick and Mikhail Kudinov, and was already tested in March on Liquid, Blockstream’s sidechain.

Blockstream, a Bitcoin infrastructure firm whose engineers have contributed to protocol development for more than a decade, published a technical proposal called SHRINCS, a new signature scheme for Bitcoin transactions designed to resist attacks from quantum computers without severely compromising the network’s processing capacity.

The underlying problem in the industry is that Bitcoin proves ownership of funds through digital signatures based on elliptic curve cryptography. Theoretically speaking, a sufficiently powerful quantum computer, running Shor’s algorithm developed in 1994, could calculate the private key from the public key visible on the blockchain, which would allow an attacker to forge signatures and spend other people’s coins. More than 1.1 million BTC belonging to the network’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, sit in addresses with exposed public keys.

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