Billionaire venture capitalist Tim Draper is not the one to shy away from sharing his views, no matter how much others disagree with him. So, when he was asked about the quantum threat to fin
Billionaire venture capitalist Tim Draper is not the one to shy away from sharing his views, no matter how much others disagree with him.
So, when he was asked about the quantum threat to finance, he didn't hesitate to share his frank opinion.
Related: Expert warns crypto faces industry-wide quantum threat
Why quantum computing is considered a threat
It was in the 1990s that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) mathematician Peter Shor developed the first well-known quantum algorithm to crack encryption. Over decades, quantum computing has seen enormous progress.
While the computers active today use binary electrical signals or bits to represent ones or zeros, quantum computers use quantum bits (qubits), which are subatomic particles.
Optimized qubits can simultaneously represent combinations of both ones and zeros. More qubits mean large-scale computing power for problem-solving.
There is a fear that quantum computers will be able to encrypt sensitive data, including financial details. It means that bad actors, in control of these systems, can decrypt data and steal assets like cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC).
Trending on TheStreet Roundtable:
Draper warns quantum will attack banks before Bitcoin
But Draper believes that Bitcoin is far more secure than the dollars sitting in bank accounts. In fact, a quantum computer will crack a bank long before it can go after a blockchain technology-based virtual asset, he recently argued.
"Everyone's panicking about quantum breaking Bitcoin's encryption while banks are running on legacy infrastructure that makes Bitcoin look like Fort Knox," Draper wrote in an X post.
Even if a quantum computer cracks a blockchain, node operators can roll back to the last secure block, and the network will survive, he said. But the dollar sitting in a bank account doesn't have that option, he added.
Draper even predicted that Bitcoin will replace the dollar eventually and retailers will only accept the cryptocurrency.
"At some point, Bitcoin eclipses the dollar entirely as retailers begin to accept bitcoin, and then they decide they only want to accept bitcoin."
BTC/USD, Source:
DecibelBitcoin was trading at $63,664 at press time as per Decibel.
Related: Billionaire Tim Draper doubles down on bold Bitcoin target