On Fri, Nov 16, 2012 at 11:20 AM, Dirk Bruere <dirk.bruere@gmail.com> wrote:

My biggest worry about BC is that at some point the algorithm will be hacked and BC rendered worthless. I keep looking at stuff like DWave quantum computers

Whether or not DWave's products are true quantum computers is still a matter of debate due to the specifics of the architecture (quantum annealing != quantum-entangled bits). Secondly, if and when true quantum CPUs are developed, a lot bigger fish than Bitcoin are in line to be fried. Among them, the encrypted communication links used by global banks, multinational corporations, and large governments. Don't forget cracking the keys on pilfered encrypted data, either (you can bet your bottom $unit_of_currency that people want to find out what's really in the file wikileaks-insurance-20120222.tar.bz2.aes). Also, the Bitcoin protocol was designed so that the message digest and cryptographic algorithms could be swapped out if need be. There are at least six categories of algorithms at this time that would fit that particular bill, and no doubt more will spring up. -- The Doctor [412/724/301/703] [ZS (MED)] https://drwho.virtadpt.net/ "I am everywhere." -- -- Zero State mailing list: http://groups.google.com/group/DoctrineZero ----- End forwarded message ----- -- Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org ______________________________________________________________ ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820 http://www.ativel.com http://postbiota.org 8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A 7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE