BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, has weighed in on the debate over quantum cryptocurrencies — and it’s surprisingly optimistic.
The company manages more than $15 trillion in assets, He said In her new report, Quantum Computing and the Blockchain, she argues that upgrading current encryption to quantum-resistant standards is a much easier task than building a functional quantum computer capable of breaking that encryption.
“In our view, a PQ migration of cryptocurrencies is eminently addressable from a technical standpoint
“From this point of view, the main challenge is coordination and timely implementation,” the report stated.
The cryptocurrency community has sounded the alarm about hypothetical developments in quantum computers that may in the future be able to crack Bitcoin’s encryption. Some in the field — including Bitcoin developers — have begun to prepare for a post-quantum future by testing quantum-resistant signatures on live sidechains.
Quantum computers already exist but they make mistakes, and there is currently no device that can break Bitcoin’s encryption. Bitcoin is currently the largest computer network in existence.
BlackRock has Skin in the game After debuting Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs in 2024. BlackRock’s Bitcoin fund had the most successful launch in the history of the ETF industry.
BlackRock Chairman Larry Fink also talked about Bitcoin being “digital gold” and an “international asset” and talked about how cryptocurrency networks can help tokenize everything.
BlackRock Opinions on Bitcoin
Although solutions exist to protect Bitcoin from quantum computers — they are technically easy to upgrade — coordination is difficult given the cryptocurrency’s decentralized, consensus-based development, the report said.
BlackRock noted that approximately 35% of Bitcoin’s circulating supply is potentially vulnerable to certain types of attacks due to exposed public keys, and 11-19% may be permanently lost regardless of migration.
Along with crypto heavyweights like Coinbase, Fidelity Digital Assets, Block, and BlackRock on Thursday. Announce A new Bitcoin Security consortium aims to donate funds to engineers to help them with open source work to support proposals like BIP-360.
The asset manager added in the report that while BIP-360 is a credible and well-designed larger piece of the puzzle, it stops short of calling it a solution. However, she added that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency networks have the advantage.
“However, upgrading existing cryptosystems (including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and others) to a quantum-secure standard is a much less difficult task than building a CRQC from where quantum computing progress stands today,” the report noted.
“Therefore, the advantage definitely remains with defense at the current stage.”
