$BTC
Bitcoin faced mixed sentiments on Tuesday after crypto community members spoke on the potential of Google's new quantum chip Willow's ability to crack blockchain networks and render the security of public key cryptography useless.
Fears rise for Bitcoin following Google's quantum chip launch
Google's announcement of a new quantum computing chip called Willow has stirred concerns for Bitcoin and crypto encryption. The fears center around Willow's potential to compromise Bitcoin's security and the cryptographic techniques for securing private keys.
Willow is a quantum computing chip that boasts 105 qubits and a remarkable ability to minimize computational errors. The chip can allegedly perform a benchmark task in under five minutes, "a task that would take today's supercomputers around 10 septillion years to complete," wrote Google in a blog post on Monday.
Crypto community members have shared mixed views concerning Willow's ability and its potential impact on Bitcoin and the general crypto market.
On the one hand, certain members feel that this new technology will end crypto encryption and crack Bitcoin.
However, most experts expressed that despite Willow's groundbreaking computing speed, it has several shortcomings when tested with Bitcoin's security.
Bitcoin advocate Ben Sigman stated that Bitcoin uses two main types of encryption: the Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) and the SHA-256 secure hashing algorithm.
Sigman pointed out that both encryptions require millions of qubits to break through, meaning that Willow's 105 qubits is still quite far from cracking Bitcoin.