If you haven’t been paying attention to the specialized field of quantum computing, you might not have noticed things changing.
Quantum computing refers a specialized processor that can access algorithms that a normal computer can’t effectively run. These processors have been theorized since the 1990s - when the first specialized algorithm was created, but they were a curiosity because the processor that could run it was hypothetical.
People have been trying to create a quantum computer ever since it was theorized, but up until recently, progress was very slow and many questioned if such a thing could be made at all.
However, in the past few years, progress has increased exponentially. It now looks like a practical quantum computer will happen in 2035 or even sooner.
Why does this matter for crypto? Because one of the things a quantum computer can do that a classical computer can’t is reverse engineer the private keys from a public key, and it is the security of the private keys that protect your funds! This means, that when quantum computers become practical, crypto has a real problem on its hands.
To beat this threat, new signature and encryption methods that can stand up to quantum computers are being developed. However, they are still young and inefficient, since QCs are not an immediate threat, it would be best to use the standard algorithms for now.
Causevest has been designed to handle this transition with ease - the new address and state machine structure means adding a new signature algorithm is a soft fork - meaning only the finality generators and users of the new signature scheme need to update, it’s not a forced full upgrade for everyone. So when it is time to upgrade, it should be easy to do.