Bitcoin: a developer proposes to trap future quantum pirates

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https://cryptoast.fr/bitcoin-mines-quantiques-pieger-voleurs-cory-fields/

What if future quantum hackers had to risk their own bitcoins to steal them? Cory Fields, developer of Bitcoin Core and researcher at MIT's Digital Currency Initiative, presented a proposal called "quantum mines" on Wednesday. Its goal is to make attacks financially costly for their perpetrators.

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Advances in quantum computing indeed threaten network security. A sufficiently powerful computer could find the private key of a wallet from its public key, when the latter is exposed. The first bitcoins, notably those attributed to Satoshi Nakamoto, are among the potentially vulnerable funds.

To counter this threat, Cory Fields imagines a bail system. After the arrival of computers capable of breaking current cryptography, anyone wishing to move 1 BTC from an old address would have to lock in 1 additional BTC. Both amounts would remain blocked for a waiting period, for example 30 days.

The legitimate owner could, however, secretly prepare a “mine”, in the form of a small sum placed on a quantum-resistant address. This would contain proof of possession of his private key, created before the threat appeared.

If a hacker attempted to steal their bitcoins, the owner would have 30 days to reveal this evidence, recover their funds, and confiscate the attacker's deposit.

It is impossible for the thief to know in advance which addresses hide such a trap. Each hacking attempt would therefore become a risky bet.

Faced with the quantum threat, the choice of your wallet matters: the Trezor Safe 7 is one of the first to use post-quantum cryptography.

But this protection assumes that the holders always have their private keys. Bitcoins considered lost, some of which attributed to Satoshi Nakamoto, would therefore remain vulnerable.

Cory Fields proposes a second mechanism, auctions allowing other users to secretly bid on vulnerable bitcoins. If a hacker attempts to steal 50 BTC, a participant who has previously placed a stake of 40 BTC could trigger a mechanism destroying the targeted bitcoins and allowing him to recover 40 BTC from the attacker's deposit.

A variation suggested by Neha Narula, also a researcher at MIT, plans to penalize the second highest bidder. This system could lead to an escalation of stakes, to the point of discouraging pirates from participating.

Machine-translated from French