There is a Bitcoin wallet with 69,000 BTC that hackers are reportedly passing to each other. The person who claims to have it is requesting a quantum computer to force its key.
A Bitcoin wallet with USD 693,207,618 is reportedly at stake. However, anyone seeking to hack it will first have to decode the password.
Alon Gal, a Twitter user, and a cryptocurrency enthusiast claims to have a Bitcoin wallet with 69,000 BTC in his possession. Undoubtedly, that amount has a value higher than USD 695 million.
The challenge is that the key to the Bitcoin wallet is lost. As a consequence, no one has yet managed to access it.
Alon Gal appealed to his more than 30 thousand followers and Google. He requested them to help him connect to a quantum computer to force the key, which would allow him to move the great lost Bitcoin treasure.
Last September 8th, Gal posted that hackers have passed the wallet to each other during the last two years. Of course, they have not succeeded in finding the password.
He recently added that someone had warned him that there could be a method for hacking wallets, but that he did not know if it was true.
Possibility of Access Wallet with Lost Password
Advances in quantum computing have been areas of contention for cryptocurrency advocates. Many of them believe that machines could put the security of the Bitcoin blockchain at risk.
However, there is a great debate as to whether a current quantum computer can breach the security of blockchain technology. As a result of that, it would be able to decode the key to the wallet.
As many members of the community know, scientists in China were able to change an encryption key at a distance of 1,120 kilometers in June. They mainly used quantum entanglement, outperforming the previous best attempt by 1,000 kilometers.
This time, they used quantum entanglement to change a secret key, which would also allow encrypting and decrypting messages.
Experts’ Opinions
Some experts claim that such a device does not exist, but others consider that a quantum computer will have that potential and much more sooner than expected.
In that sense, Wladimir van der Laan, the developer of Bitcoin Core, said that he hopes that it will be long before quantum computers become common enough. He especially stated that regarding their applicability to a decentralized network like that of Bitcoin.
In the same vein, Ian Grigg, the inventor of Ricardian Contracts, indicated that a quantum computer is not necessary to distribute keys securely. He said that it is possible to do it with cheaper software methods.
To conclude, the website of consulting firm Deloitte said that quantum computers could become so fast that they would affect the Bitcoin transaction process. They believe that that would happen even though everyone took the same protective measures.
By Alexander Salazar
