Mission Eleven has raised $6 million to guard bitcoin
from the existential menace of quantum computing, as fears mount that the community’s core cryptography may in the future be rendered out of date.
The spherical was co-led by Variant Fund and Quantonation, with participation from Fort Island Ventures alongside founding traders Nebular and Formation, in accordance with a launch.
“As quantum computing capabilities advance, the menace to techniques like Bitcoin is now not theoretical, it is imminent,” Alex Pruden, CEO of Mission 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, Mission Eleven launched the Q-Day Prize, providing 1 BTC to the primary crew that may break Bitcoin’s elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) utilizing a quantum pc.
“We outline Q-Day because the second when quantum computer systems turn 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 Mission Eleven in a launch.
Mission 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 techniques, which might be immune to the sorts of assaults a future quantum pc 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.
“Getting ready forward of Q-Day means guaranteeing 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 as we speak,” Deegan continued.
Securing BTC in opposition to quantum via consensus
The strategy contrasts with options like QRAMP, a Bitcoin Enchancment Proposal that mandates a hard-fork migration to quantum-safe addresses.
Whereas efficient in principle, QRAMP and related proposals face a excessive barrier to adoption as a result of they’d require consensus, a tall order in a governance surroundings recognized for warning.
Ethereum’s multi-year journey to Proof-of-Stake and Bitcoin’s current OP_RETURN debate are reminders of simply how sluggish protocol change might be, and a few analysts have warned that the sluggish governance course of is a menace itself.
This route would bypass the necessity for consensus, whereas additionally facilitating the mass adoption of quantum defenses.
As Rick Maeda of Presto Analysis lately warned in an interview with CoinDesk, quantum defenses have to be constructed linearly, not reactively, as a result of by the point the menace is actual, it’s already too late.
Mission Eleven’s newest strikes recommend some within the crypto trade are taking this menace severely whereas acknowledging the weak point of present strategies.
