Can SegWit Wallets Shield Bitcoin from Quantum Computing Threats

Bitcoin OG Willy Woo suggested a way to protect your Bitcoin until there is a solution to the Bitcoin quantum threat: keep your Bitcoin in a SegWit wallet for about seven years.

Quantum computing is a long-feared (and debated) inflection point for the crypto industry. It has been theorized that computers capable of breaking encryption have the ability to reveal users’ keys, exposing sensitive data and user funds.

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SegWit, or Segregated Witness, is an upgrade to the Bitcoin (BTC) protocol implemented on August 23, 2017.

SegWit could help hide keys

Woo argues that quantum computers can distinguish a private key from a public key and that current master addresses “embed the public key in the address”, making them vulnerable to quantum computers, while a SegWit hides the public key until a transaction is recorded.

“In the past, it was about protecting your PRIVATE KEY (your seed phrase). In the age of big scary quantum computers (BSQCs) coming, you also need to protect your PUBLIC KEY,” he said.

“Previous formats hide the public key behind a hash, so a BSQC cannot easily decrypt it.”

However, this would mean that the Bitcoin user would have to refrain from sending Bitcoin out of the SegWit address until a solution to the quantum threat is developed, Woo explained.

Woo, however, also acknowledged that Bitcoins held by exchange-traded funds, treasury companies and in cold storage could be quantum-resistant if custodians act, even before a quantum-resistant protocol is deployed.

He also pointed out that the “general consensus” is that quantum is unlikely to pose a threat to Bitcoin until at least 2030, and that “quantum-resistant standards and upgrades are already being rolled out.”

SegWit is “no protection model,” says executive

However, Charles Edwards, founder of quantitative Bitcoin and digital asset fund Carpriole, who has previously warned of the quantum threat to Bitcoin, argued that the solution “is not quantum safe.”

“SegWit is not a protection model. We need to upgrade the network as soon as possible, and these kinds of messages suggesting we are 7 years old would mean the network would collapse first,” he said.

“Bitcoin can adapt, but we need to see a lot more traction on this now and real consensus next year. Bitcoin is the most vulnerable network in the world.”

Related: Quantum threat to Bitcoin still far away, says Borderless Capital partner

Critics say quantum fears are overblown

Meanwhile, critics say the threat posed by quantum computers is overblown, as the technology is still far from being viable for decades, and banking giants and other traditional targets will be hacked long before Bitcoin.