You wont have to worry about quantum destroying the present encryption any time soon and not likely by 2030. Perhaps 2040 is more accurate for that one. Besides, they are already working on changing the encryption algorithm.
Keep in mind it is the standard so not only are cryptocurrencies affected but every countries national data.
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The biggest problem is that today's quantum resistant algorithms may not be as quantum resistant as they're current thought to be, and we won't know for sure until quantum computers become commonplace enough for your average cryptography expert to try cracking the algorithms.
At current rates, quantum computing will have increased in computing power by a magnitude of roughly 3.5 by 2030, or about 3200 times what it is today. That also means there's some likelihood most computers will have a quantum co-processor by then, or at the very least you'd be able to get a quantum accelerator card much like you can get a GPU today.
However, with the incoming global recession, things will likely slow down for the next 4-7 years, so it's quite possible that such levels won't be reached until around 2035.
Never underestimate computational growth, Your average smartphone today has significantly more processing power than your average computer in 2010 did.
That is true, you truly do not know if a bullet proof vest is bullet proof until a bullet hits it. Thus, it is all speculation until one gets to that croassroad.
The semiconductor industry is only now facing an issue that it did not have to deal with 40 or so years ago: noise. There are now many avenues being purused to get around it, 3D chips, carbon nanotubes, or even altering other aspects of the software stack to gain efficiency that, for the most part, came from chip advancement.
Noise is inherent in quantum and a problem they have from the start. The natural instability that is within this realm offers an additional challenge that researchers are attacking. However, going from 60 qubits to the 1M-10M many are estimating will be required to do what is being discussed here will require a lot of breakthroughs. The idea of doing something on a smaller scale is much easier than scaling up. It will be interesting to see how this is overcome.
That said, since it is not an overnight, hey look what we created, quantum research will affect all aspects. So while we can focus upon the ability to "attack" encryption system, we also can see the same breakthroughs, as they come, applied to storage and transmission. While it might not be a 1:1 benefit ratio, there will be some correlation. Thus, we could see improvements in what the media likes to call the "quantum internet".
As for the quantum-lite that you mentioned, we will certainly see a mixture of quantum and classical, especially at the start. For this reason, the computational power of quantum will be tied to applications developed for classical computing. Again, the same way we have quantum operating as a threat to the present encryption, it is possible that the same quantum technology can be applied to protect the classical applications.
Naturally, this is all spec and we will see how much acceleration takes place over the next 10-15 years. We know the pace will only increase so I guess it is a matter of which side gets there first: those who want to break encryption versus those who want to protect it. What is interesting is it is many of the same parties (governments) on both sides.
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