Q-Day Won’t Kill Bitcoin, but It’ll Create the Trade of a Lifetime: Willy Woo

Bitcoin’s Q-Day fears are overhyped and could create a once-in-a-lifetime buying opportunity, popular Bitcoin analyst Willy Woo tweeted earlier today. Woo, known for his maverick takes on Bitcoin’s future, has discussed the topic extensively over the last few months, highlighting the risks and opportunities of the so-called Quantum Threat.

Woo tweeted:

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Woo has always argued like a realist and has highlighted the risks posed by some older addresses that aren’t Quantum-proofed. But Woo believes arguing that the premier cryptocurrency will completely collapse and its value drop to zero is sheer ignorance. 

What is Q-Day?

Q-Day, aka Y2Q, is the expected moment when quantum algorithms will break public cryptography with the help of a powerful computer. The move has been developing rapidly in the last couple of years, with Google and other companies warning that Q-Day might happen within a few years and change the nature of the online world as we know it. 

If Q-Day arrives, wallets with exposed public keys (such as reused addresses or older P2PKH Bitcoin formats) could have their private keys reverse-engineered and stolen. This doesn’t represent most Bitcoin addresses, and most other cryptocurrency networks have already migrated to quantum-proofed algorithms. Wallets with fully visible data will be targeted first. Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin will theoretically be under threat. 

Crypto will not be the only thing affected by Q-Day; that is for sure. Most of the banking systems, insurance companies, and other financial organizations use public cryptography to secure their systems.

One user replied to Woo:

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Woo replied:

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Q-day is still theoretically years away, and it still generates a lot of debate. Google reportedly gave it close to three years, but it keeps revising its target closer, warning companies using public-key encryption to update on time or suffer the consequences. IBM Quantum has a reported 1,132-qubit system, still far from the 20,000 or so qubits needed to break Bitcoin’s SHA algorithm. 

Current quantum computers have already started finding use cases in the corporate world. They aren’t powerful enough to break public encryption yet, but they process far faster than conventional computers. 

Woo further highlights that legal challenges will be brought against hackers trying to exploit exposed Bitcoin addresses. For example, if an exchange receives a tranche of Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin, the platform is unlikely to process it. It will likely go to litigation, and the coins will be locked up, rebounding BTC’s price levels in the process.