[ExI] You'd better sell your bitcoins

[BillK]

On Wed, 19 Nov 2025 at 22:44, Jason Resch via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>
The problem is less in the symmetric cipher's like DES (and now AES) and
moreso in the key exchange and digital signature algorithms which are
primarily RSA, Elliptic Curve and Diffie-Hellman. (You may enjoy my
presentation if you are interested to understand how these algorithms work
and what they are used for: https://youtu.be/mSMQ-xowqAg )
>
> These three algorithms are instrumental to all transport security
protocols (SSL, TLS, SSH) which are the basis of HTTPS, SFTP, VPNs, etc.
>
> Due to the fact that all these constructions are based around
mathematical groups they all fall to Shor's algorithm and quantum
computers. But this is a particular quirk of history, the simplest
asymmetric encryption algorithms were based on mathematical groups, and
were invented in the 60s and 70s, but they don't have to be. New
constructions, for example, based on lattices were invented in the 90s and
don't use groups and hence are not vulnerable to Shor's algorithm.
>
> So you are right this affects much more than cryptocurrency. Practically
all secure communications protocols on the Internet are vulnerable. More
worrisome: of someone, such as a hacker or government actor recorded any
communication based on these protocols, once a large scale quantum computer
is created, all these historical messages can be exposed.
>
> If you have a credit card with an expiry date that is after a large scale
quantum computer is invented, and it was used in the past over a secure
connection that was recorded, then it can be determined determined in the
future just as a cryptocurrency wallet could be exposed by a quantum
computer.
>
> There are already browsers and servers using new TLS standards and
cryptographic protocols that incorporate post-quantum-secure algorithms
into the key exchange and/or digital signatures. Signal and iMessage
reportedly already use it:
>
> https://blog.cloudflare.com/pq-2024/
>
> Jason
> _______________________________________________


Gemini 3 Pro Thinking agrees with Jason.
BillK

Gemini 3 Pro -
Summary

If a powerful quantum computer appeared *tomorrow* by surprise, the SWIFT
network would be in a crisis, likely forcing a temporary shutdown to
manually distribute new keys.

However, under the current timeline (10+ years), SWIFT is on track to
migrate to *Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC)* long before the threat becomes
critical. The real danger is for the *stored data* currently sitting on
servers that might be decrypted in the future, exposing the financial
history of the last decade.

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