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The Bitcoin Historian

Quantum Bitcoin Countdown

A Tech News and News podcast

#146 in Tech News · 🇸🇪
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About the show

Bitcoin historian Pete Rizzo and Nathan Jeffay investigate whether quantum computing can break Bitcoin. A sequential series of expert interviews, presented in partnership with Starkware.

Newest episodes

Bitcoin Has Until 2032 | Isabel Foxen Duke QBC Ep. 13

44 min

BIP-360 proposes the first step toward a quantum-resistant Bitcoin: a new output type built to carry quantum-resistant signatures in a later upgrade. Which signature scheme follows, and how quickly developers can agree on it, is still under debate. So is Bitcoin ready for quantum, and how much time does it have? In the 13th episode of The Quantum Bitcoin Podcast, Bitcoin historian Pete Rizzo and co-host Nathan Jeffay put that question to Isabel Foxen Duke, head of the MARA Foundation, adviser to the Starknet Foundation and co-author of BIP-360, who says Bitcoin should be prepared by 2032 and that the push to get there has accelerated sharply in the past year.Episode 13 is the one that follows the fix through Bitcoin’s proposal process: how BIP-360 shrank from a single moonshot proposal into a step-by-step upgrade path, why some developers now question whether anything else deserves their time, and why she argues that for Bitcoin the conservative choice is to change the protocol. She explains the stateful and stateless halves of SHRINCS, the leading candidate for a quantum-resistant signature, why the safer stateless path could cost 10 to 20 times today’s fees, and why custodians and most wallets are expected to avoid the stateful path. It covers how miners are approaching the threat, why the first quantum-safe Bitcoin transaction calmed the market without settling the problem, what could happen to the millions of coins that never move, and the wallet habits that protect holders today. It closes with her response to Chamath Palihapitiya’s criticism of Bitcoin’s progress, her 2032 timeline, and why she expects shocks to the market even in the best-prepared case.The Quantum Bitcoin Podcast is a series examining the quantum threat to Bitcoin, designed to be watched in sequence. Each episode opens with a discussion between the hosts, presents extended interviews with expert guests on a single key question, and closes with a recap of how the evidence has changed their thi...

Shor’s Algorithm With Quantum and Bitcoin - QBC Ep. 12

50 min

Shor’s algorithm sits underneath every conversation about quantum and Bitcoin. It was published in 1994, long before anyone could build a quantum computer, and it is the reason a large enough machine could work backward from a public key to the private key behind it. So what does it actually do, and why can’t better randomness or a stronger key protect against it? In the 12th episode of The Quantum Bitcoin Podcast, Bitcoin historian Pete Rizzo and co-host Nathan Jeffay put that question to Eli Ben-Sasson, co-founder and CEO of StarkWare and co-inventor of the STARK proof system, who says that once a capable quantum computer arrives, no key with an exposed public key will be safe.Episode 12 is the one that explains the math behind the threat: what Peter Shor discovered, how a quantum computer can explore many possibilities at once before collapsing to a single answer, and why the repeating patterns hidden inside factoring and elliptic curve keys are exactly what it exploits. He explains why systems built on hashes, lattices and STARKs lack that structure, the 3 fronts where steady progress is bringing a working machine closer, and why AI could produce faster versions of Shor’s algorithm. It covers StarkWare’s move to explore turning Starknet into a quantum-safe layer 1 rather than wait on Ethereum, why he calls the QSB transaction a band-aid, and why he wants Bitcoiners to stop treating ossification as a virtue and speak up for soft forks. It closes with a step-by-step mental image of how Shor’s algorithm finds a key, why perfect entropy offers no protection, and his warning that Bitcoin’s value would fall sharply without a fix.The Quantum Bitcoin Podcast is a series examining the quantum threat to Bitcoin, designed to be watched in sequence. Each episode opens with a discussion between the hosts, presents extended interviews with expert guests on a single key question, and closes with a recap of how the evidence has changed their thinking.Links referenced:StarkWare...

Is Quantum Finally Here? | Nic Carter - QBC Ep. 11

59 min

Every quantum warning ends with the same advice: move your coins to a fresh address and wait it out. But if someone can break the cryptography protecting a single large wallet, every holder feels it, whether their own coins move or not. So what can an individual Bitcoin holder actually do, and is quantum even the biggest risk? In the 11th episode of The Quantum Bitcoin Podcast, Bitcoin historian Pete Rizzo put that question to Nic Carter, founding partner at Castle Island Ventures and a longtime Bitcoin investor and researcher who has spent the last 18 months pressing developers to prepare, and who argues that cryptography's golden age is over and Bitcoin has entered the danger zone.Episode 11 is the one that asks what protection really means: why Nic says no single holder can make themselves safe from a break in elliptic curves, why an AI-driven classical break worries him more today than a working quantum computer, and why Bitcoin has to move away from hard-coded cryptography toward a design built to swap schemes as they fail. He grades the last year of developer work a 6 out of 10, explains why stateful schemes like SHRINCS have met resistance, and makes the case that the block size fight will look small once hash-based signatures arrive. It covers how a break would force Bitcoin's founding principles into conflict, from the 21 million supply to the rule that a valid signature proves ownership, his best case for an orderly salvage of abandoned coins, why he sees no problem with commercial firms helping the migration, and what the largest Wall Street firms tell him about their top concern. It closes with his read on Q-Day timelines, why Shor's algorithm is likely to arrive before the rest of quantum's benefits, and why he remains optimistic that Bitcoin can get through it if the work starts now.The Quantum Bitcoin Podcast is a series examining the quantum threat to Bitcoin, designed to be watched in sequence. Each episode opens with a discussion between the hosts,...

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All episodes

Bitcoin Has Until 2032 | Isabel Foxen Duke QBC Ep. 13

44 min

BIP-360 proposes the first step toward a quantum-resistant Bitcoin: a new output type built to carry quantum-resistant signatures in a later upgrade. Which signature scheme follows, and how quickly developers can agree on it, is still under debate. So is Bitcoin ready for quantum, and how much time does it have? In the 13th episode of The Quantum Bitcoin Podcast, Bitcoin historian Pete Rizzo and co-host Nathan Jeffay put that question to Isabel Foxen Duke, head of the MARA Foundation, adviser to the Starknet Foundation and co-author of BIP-360, who says Bitcoin should be prepared by 2032 and that the push to get there has accelerated sharply in the past year.Episode 13 is the one that follows the fix through Bitcoin’s proposal process: how BIP-360 shrank from a single moonshot proposal into a step-by-step upgrade path, why some developers now question whether anything else deserves their time, and why she argues that for Bitcoin the conservative choice is to change the protocol. She explains the stateful and stateless halves of SHRINCS, the leading candidate for a quantum-resistant signature, why the safer stateless path could cost 10 to 20 times today’s fees, and why custodians and most wallets are expected to avoid the stateful path. It covers how miners are approaching the threat, why the first quantum-safe Bitcoin transaction calmed the market without settling the problem, what could happen to the millions of coins that never move, and the wallet habits that protect holders today. It closes with her response to Chamath Palihapitiya’s criticism of Bitcoin’s progress, her 2032 timeline, and why she expects shocks to the market even in the best-prepared case.The Quantum Bitcoin Podcast is a series examining the quantum threat to Bitcoin, designed to be watched in sequence. Each episode opens with a discussion between the hosts, presents extended interviews with expert guests on a single key question, and closes with a recap of how the evidence has changed their thi...

Shor’s Algorithm With Quantum and Bitcoin - QBC Ep. 12

50 min

Shor’s algorithm sits underneath every conversation about quantum and Bitcoin. It was published in 1994, long before anyone could build a quantum computer, and it is the reason a large enough machine could work backward from a public key to the private key behind it. So what does it actually do, and why can’t better randomness or a stronger key protect against it? In the 12th episode of The Quantum Bitcoin Podcast, Bitcoin historian Pete Rizzo and co-host Nathan Jeffay put that question to Eli Ben-Sasson, co-founder and CEO of StarkWare and co-inventor of the STARK proof system, who says that once a capable quantum computer arrives, no key with an exposed public key will be safe.Episode 12 is the one that explains the math behind the threat: what Peter Shor discovered, how a quantum computer can explore many possibilities at once before collapsing to a single answer, and why the repeating patterns hidden inside factoring and elliptic curve keys are exactly what it exploits. He explains why systems built on hashes, lattices and STARKs lack that structure, the 3 fronts where steady progress is bringing a working machine closer, and why AI could produce faster versions of Shor’s algorithm. It covers StarkWare’s move to explore turning Starknet into a quantum-safe layer 1 rather than wait on Ethereum, why he calls the QSB transaction a band-aid, and why he wants Bitcoiners to stop treating ossification as a virtue and speak up for soft forks. It closes with a step-by-step mental image of how Shor’s algorithm finds a key, why perfect entropy offers no protection, and his warning that Bitcoin’s value would fall sharply without a fix.The Quantum Bitcoin Podcast is a series examining the quantum threat to Bitcoin, designed to be watched in sequence. Each episode opens with a discussion between the hosts, presents extended interviews with expert guests on a single key question, and closes with a recap of how the evidence has changed their thinking.Links referenced:StarkWare...

Is Quantum Finally Here? | Nic Carter - QBC Ep. 11

59 min

Every quantum warning ends with the same advice: move your coins to a fresh address and wait it out. But if someone can break the cryptography protecting a single large wallet, every holder feels it, whether their own coins move or not. So what can an individual Bitcoin holder actually do, and is quantum even the biggest risk? In the 11th episode of The Quantum Bitcoin Podcast, Bitcoin historian Pete Rizzo put that question to Nic Carter, founding partner at Castle Island Ventures and a longtime Bitcoin investor and researcher who has spent the last 18 months pressing developers to prepare, and who argues that cryptography's golden age is over and Bitcoin has entered the danger zone.Episode 11 is the one that asks what protection really means: why Nic says no single holder can make themselves safe from a break in elliptic curves, why an AI-driven classical break worries him more today than a working quantum computer, and why Bitcoin has to move away from hard-coded cryptography toward a design built to swap schemes as they fail. He grades the last year of developer work a 6 out of 10, explains why stateful schemes like SHRINCS have met resistance, and makes the case that the block size fight will look small once hash-based signatures arrive. It covers how a break would force Bitcoin's founding principles into conflict, from the 21 million supply to the rule that a valid signature proves ownership, his best case for an orderly salvage of abandoned coins, why he sees no problem with commercial firms helping the migration, and what the largest Wall Street firms tell him about their top concern. It closes with his read on Q-Day timelines, why Shor's algorithm is likely to arrive before the rest of quantum's benefits, and why he remains optimistic that Bitcoin can get through it if the work starts now.The Quantum Bitcoin Podcast is a series examining the quantum threat to Bitcoin, designed to be watched in sequence. Each episode opens with a discussion between the hosts,...

What is the Cost of The Quantum Attack on Bitcoin? - QBC Ep. 10

56 min

Every quantum doomsday scenario starts the same way: the moment a machine can break Bitcoin's cryptography, the coins start moving. But the first machines that can do it will be slow, cost $100 million to $1 billion to build, and belong to companies that need to earn that money back. So what does a quantum attack on Bitcoin actually cost, and who pays the price first? In the [Nth] episode of The Quantum Bitcoin Podcast, Bitcoin historian Pete Rizzo and co-host Nathan Jeffay put that question to Pierre-Luc Dallaire-Demers, founder and CEO of Pauli Group, a quantum physicist who has worked in quantum computing since 2006, and who prices the first attacks at $1 million to $10 million per key.Episode [N] is the one that puts a number on the threat: how a machine that lasts a year or two gets amortized across a handful of keys per week, why breaking Bitcoin is the only profitable job for the first generation of quantum computers, and why small holders face lottery odds while exchanges, ETFs and sovereign funds sit at the front of the line. He explains why the first attacks could stay quiet, how key-breaking can be hidden inside what looks like a molecule simulation, and why the price of an attack falls exponentially once the first one lands. It covers his timeline of 2 to 5 years, why he says stopping it would take new physics, and how the resources needed to break a key fell by a factor of 40 to 50 in a single year as researchers used AI agents to rebuild Google's withheld circuit through the ECDSA.Fail project. It closes with his message to Bitcoin developers, that the solutions are starting to arrive and consensus is now the hard part.The Quantum Bitcoin Podcast is a series examining the quantum threat to Bitcoin, designed to be watched in sequence. Each episode opens with a discussion between the hosts, presents extended interviews with expert guests on a single key question, and closes with a recap of how the evidence has changed their thinking.Links referenced:Paul...

Where Theory Meets Reality: Will Bitcoin Hardware Wallets Be Quantum Proof? - QBC Ep. 09

1 hr 0 min

Every hardware wallet is built around one idea: keep your keys offline, show you exactly what you're signing, and malware on your computer can't touch your Bitcoin. So what happens when the attack never touches the device at all? In the [Nth] episode of The Quantum Bitcoin Podcast, Bitcoin historian Pete Rizzo and co-host Nathan Jeffay put that question to Charles Guillemet, Chief Technology Officer at Ledger, a cryptographer whose team is already building post-quantum signatures into Ledger's secure element, and who says that as long as the blockchain itself is not quantum safe, there is nothing a wallet maker can do.Episode [N] is the one that looks at quantum from the wallet's side: why an attacker with a quantum computer can compute your keys just by watching the chain, why he thinks Bitcoin would be an epiphenomenon on a true Q-Day, and how a zero-knowledge proof of your seed's parent key could separate real owners from attackers after the chain is halted. He takes apart the argument that hashed addresses keep coins safe, since public keys already sit in wallet infrastructure, logs and RPC nodes. It covers the 3 questions any migration has to answer and why Bitcoin is only debating the easiest one, the 10x throughput cost of bigger signatures, and what stateful SHRINCS signatures would mean for wallets, including why 24 words alone may no longer be enough to recover. It closes with what happens if Bitcoin can't reach consensus and the market has to choose between hard forks, why the rest of the world is moving to ML-DSA while Bitcoin pursues hash-based signatures, and his own case for ML-DSA paired with bigger blocks.The Quantum Bitcoin Podcast is a series examining the quantum threat to Bitcoin, designed to be watched in sequence. Each episode opens with a discussion between the hosts, presents extended interviews with expert guests on a single key question, and closes with a recap of how the evidence has changed their thinking.Links referenced:Ledger - https:...

Etherums Effort To Attack Quantum Computing with John Lillick - QBC Ep. 08

1 hr 0 min

Every quantum conversation in Bitcoin starts from the same place: the threat is to Bitcoin, and the question is whether Bitcoin can be fixed in time. What if that's the smaller half of the story? In the [Nth] episode of The Quantum Bitcoin Podcast, Bitcoin historian Pete Rizzo and co-host Nathan Jeffay put that question to John Lillick, author of Quantum Money, an investor whose roots run back to the earliest days of both Bitcoin and Ethereum, and who argues that the machine capable of breaking today's signatures arrives on the same clock as the infrastructure built to replace the financial system outright.Episode [N] is the one that widens the lens: why Lillick separates the problem into defense and attack and thinks the industry is watching the wrong one, what the roadmaps from IonQ, IBM, DARPA and NIST actually converge on and why the gap between a startup's incentive and a government agency's matters when reading them, how the no-cloning theorem turns a quantum state into a bearer asset and what Stephen Wiesner saw in 1972 that took fifty years to become buildable, and why he thinks Bitcoin's proof of work consensus is never the thing at risk. It covers the roughly seven million coins sitting in vulnerable address types, the case he made publicly that Bitcoin is a military target and what a state actor would actually gain, quantum memory as the dependency that gates everything, and the quantum internet's missing modem moment. It closes with the two things he cannot put a date on: whether Ethereum can execute a migration he compares to engineering a jumbo jet in mid flight, and how far ahead the capability may already be in hands that have no interest in telling us.The Quantum Bitcoin Podcast is a series examining the quantum threat to Bitcoin, designed to be watched in sequence. Each episode opens with a discussion between the hosts, presents extended interviews with expert guests on a single key question, and closes with a recap of how the evidence has changed...

Why "Not Your Keys, Not Your Coins" Actually Means the Reverse - QBC Ep. 06

1 hr 3 min

The Bitcoin community has an assumption it rarely examines: that doing nothing is the neutral option. Leave the abandoned coins alone, touch nobody's property, and you've kept faith with the protocol. What if inaction is the thing that breaks it? In the 6th episode of The Quantum Bitcoin Podcast, Bitcoin historian Pete Rizzo and co-host Nathan Jeffay put that question to Yehuda Lindell, Head of Cryptography at Coinbase and professor of computer science at Bar-Ilan University, who started this debate in the don't-touch-anyone's-property camp and ended at the opposite extreme — not for economic reasons, but moral ones.Episode 6 is the one that stops being about cryptography: why "not your keys, not your coins" actually means the reverse, and what happens to that promise when signing no longer proves ownership. It covers the roughly 1.7 million Bitcoin sitting in the abandoned class across some 20,000 early public keys, why Lindell thinks an attacker with a quantum computer dumps rather than sells slowly, and the line he draws between coins that are genuinely lost — gold at the bottom of the ocean, he says, and he has no ethical problem with someone taking those — and coins whose owners simply cannot move them. It walks through what a partial freeze could look like using hash pre-image proofs that need no external registry, why the Hourglass proposal solves the cutoff-date problem better than it solves the market-dump problem, and an idea Lindell raises for the first time on this recording: leaving low-value addresses untouched because no quantum attacker would spend the machine time on them.The Quantum Bitcoin Podcast is a series examining the quantum threat to Bitcoin, designed to be watched in sequence. Each episode opens with a discussion between the hosts, presents extended interviews with expert guests on a single key question, and closes with a recap of how the evidence has changed their thinking.Links referenced:https://www.coinbase.com/blog/coinbase-quantum-ad...

Is Bitcoin Quantum Safe Already? - Avihu Levy QBC Ep. 05

53 min

Bitcoin's quantum problem has always come with an assumption attached: fixing it means changing Bitcoin. What if it doesn't? In the [Nth] episode of The Quantum Bitcoin Podcast, Bitcoin historian Pete Rizzo and co-host Nathan Jeffay put that question to Avihu Levy, Chief Product Officer at StarkWare, who spent his evenings, weekends and holidays proving that a quantum-safe Bitcoin transaction can be built today, inside the rules Bitcoin already has, with no soft fork and no consensus battle.Episode 5 is the one that doesn't ask permission: how Quantum Safe Bitcoin shifts security from elliptic curves to hash pre-images without touching a line of consensus code, why the trick lives entirely inside legacy script and its 201-opcode, 10,000-byte constraints, how revealing eight secrets out of a hundred makes a forged signature worthless to the attacker who forged it, and what that costs in transaction size, in dollars per spend, and in transactions that no ordinary node will relay. It covers the limitations Avihu puts up front himself, what a wallet would have to hold, and how Robin Linus's Binohash became the missing piece after a commenter dismissed it as useless. It closes with the two things the mechanism cannot solve: what happens when a working workaround becomes an argument against ever fixing the protocol properly, and what Bitcoin does about the coins that will never move.The Quantum Bitcoin Podcast is a series examining the quantum threat to Bitcoin, designed to be watched in sequence. Each episode opens with a discussion between the hosts, presents extended interviews with expert guests on a single key question, and closes with a recap of how the evidence has changed their thinking.Links referenced:https://starkware.co/blog/quantum-safe-bitcoin-transactions-without-softforks/https://github.com/avihu28/Quantum-Safe-Bitcoin-Transactionshttps://bitcoinops.org/https://delvingbitcoin.org/https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0032.mediawikihttps://github....

How Are Bitcoiners Preparing For Quantum? - QBC Ep. 04

49 min

Can Bitcoin's signatures actually be replaced, and what does the replacement cost? In the [Nth] episode of The Quantum Bitcoin Podcast, Bitcoin historian Pete Rizzo and co-host Nathan Jeffay put that question to Jonas Nick, Blockstream's Director of Research, who has spent the past year and a half building the smallest post-quantum signature scheme anyone has proposed for Bitcoin and who maintained Bitcoin's secp256k1 library for over seven years before that. Links referenced:https://blockstream.com/quantum/https://blog.blockstream.com/op_checkshrincs-a-hash-based-signature-opcode-for-post-quantum-bitcoin/https://eprint.iacr.org/2025/2203https://delvingbitcoin.org/t/shrincs-post-quantum-signatures-for-bitcoin/https://blog.blockstream.com/searching-for-shrincs-parameters/https://blog.blockstream.com/blockstream-quarterly-update-q1-2026/https://blog.blockstream.com/blockstream-quarterly-update-q2-2026/https://bitcoinops.org/https://delvingbitcoin.org/https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0032.mediawikihttps://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0340.mediawikihttps://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0341.mediawikiCryptography and historyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shor%27s_algorithmhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grover%27s_algorithmhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SPHINCS%2Bhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliptic_Curve_Digital_Signature_Algorithmhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schnorr_signaturehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merkle_signature_schemehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamport_signaturehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lattice-based_cryptographyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SHA-2Presented in partnership with Starkware.CHAPTERS00:00 Meet the expert: Jonas Nick00:32 A year and a half inside the problem01:59 It isn't only the signatures. Lightning too.03:40 The assumption everything rests on04:47 What cryptographers stopped researching05:27 Why a plan is needed regardless of timing06:16 If Bitcoin does nothing: every coin, gone07:13 Why this needs a con...

What Happens To Bitcoin On Q-Day - QBC Ep. 03

1 hr 5 min

What actually happens to Bitcoin the day a quantum computer arrives? In the third episode of The Quantum Bitcoin Podcast, Bitcoin historian Pete Rizzo and co-host Nathan Jeffay put that question to Jameson Lopp, the Bitcoin security researcher who has spent the past year writing the attack scenarios out in full and who authored BIP-361, the first Bitcoin Improvement Proposal of his 14 years in Bitcoin. Episode three maps what the attack actually looks like: why a quantum attacker works in silence rather than in public, how roughly six blocks of block space could sweep 95% of the most valuable exposed addresses before anyone knows it is happening, what Lopp heard when he asked quantum computing companies directly whether they would take vulnerable coins, why address reuse has already exposed around 30% of all Bitcoin, and why he expects roughly 2.6 million coins to never migrate at all. It closes with the uncomfortable part: what deprecating elliptic curve cryptography would mean for people who cannot move their coins, why Lopp thinks the real constraint is not the computer but the decade Bitcoin needs to agree on anything, and what he actually wants to see happen on Q-Day. The Quantum Bitcoin Podcast is a series examining the quantum threat to Bitcoin, designed to be watched in sequence. Each episode opens with a discussion between the hosts, presents extended interviews with expert guests on a single key question, and closes with a recap of how the evidence has changed their thinking. Presented in partnership with Starkware. CHAPTERS00:00 Cold open01:24 What this episode covers02:08 Rizzo and Nathan set up the question06:40 Meet the expert: Jameson Lopp07:38 Why quantum is half a dozen problems at once10:35 Q-Day and the real target: Bitcoin's signatures14:16 What a quantum attacker does first15:58 Six blocks: how the sweep plays out17:44 Why nobody announces a working quantum computer20:19 The board meeting: asking the quantum companies directly22:47 Enigma, salva...

What Is The Timeline For Quantum To Break Bitcoin - QBP Ep. 2

57 min

How far away is a quantum computer that can break Bitcoin? In the second episode of The Quantum Bitcoin Podcast, Bitcoin historian Pete Rizzo and co-host Nathan Jeffay put the series' central question to Ethan Heilman, the Cloudflare researcher and Bitcoin cryptographer who co-authored BIP-360, the proposal that put quantum security on Bitcoin's agenda. Episode two maps the threat itself: how Heilman went from dismissing quantum computers as science fiction to treating them as a this-decade problem, why he refuses to name a date, what the idea of Q-Day gets wrong, which parts of Bitcoin are actually exposed and which survive untouched, and why the NSA, the banks, and nearly half of web traffic have already gone post-quantum while Bitcoin debates. It closes with the warning signs to watch for, and why whoever breaks the cryptography first may choose to stay silent. The Quantum Bitcoin Podcast is a series examining the quantum threat to Bitcoin, designed to be watched in sequence. Each episode opens with a discussion between the hosts, presents extended interviews with expert guests on a single key question, and closes with a recap of how the evidence has changed their thinking. Presented in partnership with Starkware. CHAPTERS00:00 Cold open01:00 What this episode covers01:30 Rizzo and Nathan set up the question05:49 Meet the expert: Ethan Heilman06:16 From sci-fi to serious: how Heilman changed his mind09:11 Why no one can give you a date12:40 The state of quantum hardware in 202617:11 Q-Day: why there is no single moment20:29 What post-quantum cryptography actually is22:29 Why mining and SHA-256 survive26:37 The real target: Bitcoin's signatures29:46 Is there any science behind 2030?31:22 Who has already migrated: the NSA, the banks, the web33:22 Store now, break later34:31 Why an attacker would listen, not steal39:15 Choosing Bitcoin's post-quantum signatures48:28 Tsunami warnings and the final signal57:00 Recap: what we learned about the quantum timeline GUESTSEt...

What is a Quantum Computer Really? - QBP Ep. 1

40 min

What is a quantum computer, and does it pose a genuine threat to Bitcoin? In the first episode of The Quantum Bitcoin Podcast, Bitcoin historian Pete Rizzo and co-host Nathan Jeffay begin a structured inquiry into the question hanging over the industry: whether, when, and how quantum computing could break the cryptography that secures Bitcoin.Episode one establishes the foundations:nwhat separates a quantum computer from every machine that came before it: qubits, superposition, and the capacity to represent an entire field of possible states at once.The Quantum Bitcoin Podcast is a series examining the quantum threat to Bitcoin, designed to be watched in sequence. Each episode opens with a discussion between the hosts, presents extended interviews with expert guests on a single key question, and closes with a recap of how the evidence has changed their thinking.Presented in partnership with Starkware.CHAPTERS00:00 Cold open00:46 What this episode covers01:10 Introducing the series and co-host Nathan05:46 Meet the experts: Rob Hamilton and Brandon Black06:38 Classical vs quantum: what a qubit actually is08:06 Why quantum computing threatens Bitcoin's cryptography09:39 Shor's algorithm: what it can and cannot break11:53 Inside the machines: superconducting, neutral atom, trapped ion, photonic15:03 Theory vs practice: the factoring gap18:09 Q-Day: definitions and disputed timelines21:57 Could governments be hiding a quantum breakthrough?24:04 What a quantum attack on Bitcoin would actually require25:56 Post-quantum cryptography: hash-based signatures and BIP-36029:33 Recap: what we learned about quantum computersGUESTSRob Hamilton is the co-founder of AnchorWatch, a Bitcoin custody and insurance company focused on the long-term security of keys and coins.Brandon Black is a Bitcoin educator who has spent years making the protocol's most difficult concepts accessible.FOLLOWThe Quantum Bitcoin Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@QuantumBitcoinPodcastPete Rizzo: https://x.co...

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