Coinbase highlights Algorand, Aptos' work to mitigate quantum threat

Coinbase’s quantum researchers have highlighted Algorand and Aptos’ work to prepare their networks for potential threats from quantum computing in a report on Tuesday, as they warned that other proof-of-stake chains may be more vulnerable to attacks.

Coinbase’s Independent Advisory Board on Quantum Computing and Blockchain released a paper outlining the threat that quantum computers pose to blockchains and suggested ways to prepare networks for the technology.

“A sufficiently powerful quantum computer could one day break the cryptography that secures digital assets across major blockchains,” Coinbase said. “The board has high confidence this type of machine will eventually be built.”

Source: Coinbase

Quantum computers are an emerging technology expected to be significantly more powerful than today’s top supercomputers, which has some crypto analysts worried that the technology could eventually crack blockchains’ algorithms and break into crypto wallets.

Algorand and Aptos more prepared for quantum

Coinbase said in its report that the layer-1 blockchain Algorand has a “staged roadmap toward full quantum readiness,” and is among the first networks to have deployed cryptography designed to be secure against quantum computers.

“At the transaction and execution layers, Algorand already provides the cryptographic tools necessary to support quantum-resistant accounts,” the report said, adding that users can create such accounts “without requiring protocol modifications.”

It added that Algorand had recently completed its first quantum-resistant transaction on mainnet, but block proposals and committee voting mechanisms “remain vulnerable to quantum attacks,” which the blockchain is researching ways to secure.