Exploring Quantum-Resistant Solutions for Bitcoin Blockchain

According to PANews, Blockstream researchers Mikhail Kudinov and Jonas Nick have examined various methods to upgrade the Bitcoin blockchain for quantum resistance in a revised paper published on December 5. They propose hash-based signatures as an attractive post-quantum solution due to their security relying solely on hash function assumptions, similar to Bitcoin's foundational design. Kudinov shared his findings with the Bitcoin developer mailing list, noting that these schemes have undergone extensive cryptanalysis during the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) post-quantum standardization process, boosting confidence in their robustness. Hash-based signatures depend on hash functions, which are considered quantum-resistant mathematical algorithms. Unlike Bitcoin's public key encryption, quantum algorithms struggle to break hash functions. By simply increasing the output size, hash functions can counteract brute-force searches by quantum computers, ensuring the security of applications like digital signatures. However, the implementation of hash-based signatures remains under discussion. Decisions are needed on issues such as maintaining low verification costs, standardizing various hash-based signature implementations, and whether the entire network's historical record is necessary for transaction verification.