A brand new theoretical system for blockchain based on information storage can make sure that hackers will not be able to crack cryptocurrencies once we all enter the quantum age. The idea, proposed by researchers in the Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand, will secure our crypto futures for many years and more to come by using a blockchain technology which would be alike to a time server.
To comprehend what's happening here, we must define some terms.
A blockchain stores every trade in a system about what amounts to an immutable record of events. The work required for confirming and maintaining this immutable record is usually known as mining. But the author of this technology who claims to constitute "10 percent of worldwide GDP by 2027" will eventually be insecure in an era of quantum computers.
Thus the solution is to keep a blockchain at a quantum era in a quantum blockchain by means of a series of entangled photons. Additionally, the Spectrum writes: "Essentially, current records at a quantum blockchain are not only linked to a list of their past but rather a record in the past, one does this not exist."
Isn't it weird! Yeah!
In the paper intro:
Our strategy involves encoding the blockchain to a GHz (Greenberger--Horne--Zeilinger) state of photons that do not simultaneously coexist. It's demonstrated that the entanglement at the time, rather than an entanglement in space, provides the crucial quantum benefit. All the subcomponents of this system have already been shown to be realized. Maybe more shockingly, our encoding process could be translated as non-classically influencing the past; therefore this decentralized quantum blockchain could be seen as a quantum networked period machine.
In short, the quantum blockchain is immutable because the photons that it contains do not exist at the current period but are still extant and readable. This usually means you can see the whole blockchain however, you may not even "touch" it and the only entry you'd have the ability to attempt and tamper with is your latest one. In reality, the researchers write, "During this spatial entanglement case, if an attacker attempts to tamper with any photon, then the complete blockchain would be invalidated immediately"
Is this really possible? The investigators say that the technology already exists.
"Our publication method encodes a blockchain into those temporally entangled conditions, which may then be integrated into a quantum system for additional useful operations. We'll also show that entanglement at the time, instead of entanglement in the distance, plays the crucial role for its quantum benefit on a classical blockchain," the authors write. "As mentioned previously, all of the subsystems of this design have already been shown to be experimentally realized. Moreover, if this type of quantum blockchain has been constructed, we'll show that it could be viewed as a quantum conductive time machine," he adds.
Don't fret about updating your Bitcoin wallet. This approach is still very theoretical and not in any respect available to mere mortals in near future. That said, it's nice to know somebody is searching for our quantum potential, despite it being bizarre.