Challenge Eleven has raised $6 million to guard bitcoin
from the existential risk of quantum computing, as fears mount that the community’s core cryptography may at some point be rendered out of date.
The spherical was co-led by Variant Fund and Quantonation, with participation from Citadel Island Ventures alongside founding traders Nebular and Formation, in line with a launch.
“As quantum computing capabilities advance, the risk to methods like Bitcoin is not theoretical, it is imminent,” Alex Pruden, CEO of Challenge Eleven, stated in a launch.
“This funding permits us to remain forward of that curve, constructing the instruments, requirements, and ecosystem required to make sure digital belongings stay safe in a post-quantum world,” Pruden stated.
Earlier this yr, Challenge Eleven launched the Q-Day Prize, providing 1 BTC to the primary group that may break Bitcoin’s elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) utilizing a quantum laptop.
“We outline Q-Day because the second when quantum computer systems develop into able to breaking the elliptic-curve cryptography that secures personal keys utilized by Bitcoin,” stated Conor Deegan, co-founder and VP of Engineering at Challenge Eleven in a launch.
Challenge Eleven additionally introduced it’s launching Yellowpages a post-quantum cryptographic registry the place customers can generate hybrid key pairs, create proofs linking them to their current BTC addresses, and timestamp these proofs on a verifiable ledger.
Yellowpages works by having customers generate a brand new key pair utilizing post-quantum cryptographic algorithms, akin to lattice-based methods, which might be proof against the kinds of assaults a future quantum laptop may launch.
They then create a cryptographic proof linking this quantum-safe key to their current BTC deal with. That proof is timestamped and saved in Yellowpages, a public registry hosted off-chain.
It doesn’t transfer funds or alter something on the Bitcoin blockchain, however creates a verifiable paper path of pockets possession that might function a fallback if elliptic curve cryptography is ever damaged.
“Making ready forward of Q-Day means making certain that digital belongings stay safe and verifiable in a post-quantum world. With Yellowpages, we’re giving customers free, audited, and open-source instruments to proactively set up quantum-resilient possession at this time,” Deegan continued.
Securing BTC in opposition to quantum via consensus
The method contrasts with solutions like QRAMP, a Bitcoin Enchancment Proposal that mandates a hard-fork migration to quantum-safe addresses.
Whereas efficient in idea, QRAMP and comparable proposals face a excessive barrier to adoption as a result of they’d require consensus, a tall order in a governance setting identified for warning.
Ethereum’s multi-year journey to Proof-of-Stake and Bitcoin’s current OP_RETURN debate are reminders of simply how gradual protocol change will be, and a few analysts have warned that the slow governance process is a threat itself.
This route would bypass the necessity for consensus, whereas additionally facilitating the mass adoption of quantum defenses.
As Rick Maeda of Presto Analysis recently warned in an interview with CoinDesk, quantum defenses have to be constructed linearly, not reactively, as a result of by the point the risk is actual, it’s already too late.
Challenge Eleven’s interactive entertainment strikes counsel some within the crypto business are taking this risk severely whereas acknowledging the weak point of present strategies.