Quantum parts
Hardware, Algorithms, Risks and NIST
Quantum Hardware
While the progress with Quantum Computers has been slow, it has been extremely diverse. Some of the hardware architectures include: Superconductors, Trapped-ion, Spin qubit, LOQC, NMRQC. Many techniques in quantum mechanics that can be used to make quantum computers. There are a lot of complications with every method.
Quantum Algorithms
Many different algorithms exist all designed to solve specific mathematical problems with the use of physics. The implementation of those algorithms is done with different kinds of gates that read and write the data to the qubits. An analogy used to classical computers is qubits as the CPU and gates as the motherboard that prepares information and manages memory.
Quantum Risk to Blockchain
With all of these advances, some of the algorithms combined and advanced the state of the art against elliptical curves far faster than expected. PSIQuantum has created algorithms capable of breaking 256 bit public keys into the private key using a 1152 qubit physical system, networked together.
NIST PQ
Post-Quantum Cryptography has been held as a NIST competition since 2016 with many submissions and rounds of analysis. There are 4 final results with signatures separate from the public/private key system.
