Author: Luke Dashjr 2021-03-15 21:48:15
Published on: 2021-03-15T21:48:15+00:00
A developer, Mark Friedenbach, has expressed his concern about Taproot, a proposed upgrade to Bitcoin's software. According to Friedenbach's blog post, Taproot loses an important safety protection against quantum computers, which could endanger Bitcoin when quantum computing becomes a reality. He further explains that pre-Taproot, it is possible for the network to "pause" while a full quantum-safe fix is developed, and then resume transacting. However, with Taproot, it could become an unrecoverable situation if quantum computers go online prior to having a full quantum-safe solution. In addition, Friedenbach argues that there is no gain from Taproot as the features proposed to make use of the raw keys being public prior to spending can be implemented with hashed keys as well. While it would use significantly more CPU time and bandwidth between private parties, this should not be an issue for anyone running a full node. Despite these concerns, Friedenbach does not believe they are enough to warrant rejecting Taproot. He suggests that it should be fairly trivial to add a hash on top in an additional softfork and fix the safety protection issue. Furthermore, he responds to Pieter's argument that "you can't claim much security if 37% of the supply is at risk" by suggesting that the situation can be improved through social efforts discouraging address reuse. Additionally, when/if quantum computers compromise neglected or abandoned/lost coins, it can be viewed as equivalent to Bitcoin mining. Therefore, 37% of the supply minable by quantum computers is really no different than 37% minable by ASICs.Friedenbach recommends that anyone using Bitcoin read his article and any other arguments on the topic, decide if this is a concern, and make their own posts accordingly. Despite the concerns raised, Taproot has already moved on to the activation phase, and it is likely software will be released within the next month or two as things stand.
Updated on: 2023-06-14T19:31:47.512645+00:00