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Google recently released new research on quantum risk for blockchains. In its release, Google warned that quantum advances could break crypto security sooner than expected, highlighting "appropriate urgency."
The various quantum risk profiles for popular blockchains were divided into four categories.
One category consists of protocols that make long-term exposure of quantum-vulnerable public keys inevitable. It includes blockchains with persistent accounts such as Ethereum, Solana and XRP Ledger. These utilize an account model and either use public keys directly as account addresses or expose them in the first transaction.
The XRP Ledger is noted, in contrast to other blockchains, to support native, protocol-level key rotation.
XRP Ledger building quantum resistance
In a recent tweet, XRP Ledger Validator Vet highlighted Google's findings on quantum risk for various blockchains.
XRP Ledger is currently testing quantum resilience. Last December, the XRPL Alpha testnet (AlphaNet) integrated Dilithium-based cryptography, which marks a starting phase for building quantum resistance.
Other deductions shared by Vet include XRP's native key rotation ability for accounts, unlike ETH and Solana. Google found that a lot fewer physical and logical qubits can break public blockchains than expected, with less than nine minutes being enough to attack Bitcoin.
Likewise, key rotation alone — as seen in the case of XRP Ledger — may not be enough protection, as the submitted signature can be attacked.
While not currently fully quantum-proof, XRPL is laying the foundation for future upgrades to post-quantum cryptographic standards to protect against potential future threats.
Vet noted that all non-quantum-proof cryptocurrencies are affected by this threat, regardless of whether they were mentioned by name. He added that key rotation alone will increasingly not become feasible anymore, as seen with the Bitcoin example. The developments are speeding up, and quantum protocol changes are ahead — perhaps sooner than expected.
Dan Burgin
U.Today Editorial Team
Vladislav Sopov
