It's long been hypothesized, and now broadly accepted, that should practical quantum computers arrive, they could eventually break the conventional cryptography methods that underpin today's digital world. Crucially, they might crack elliptic-curve cryptography (ECC), a principle in use today across many fields. The timeframe for the quantum cryptocalypse was previously believed to lie past 2030, but new research from Google pulls this schedule forward to 2029.
The paper predicts profound effects across blockchain infrastructure and cryptocurrencies, among other applications. The list of blockchains expected to be under fire from the quantum ECC attack is essentially "all of them," as demonstrated by a recent Cambridge study.
