Quantum Computing and the Blockchain

Room # RT 142

This special topic is inspired by the thriving Blockchain community within Toronto, and the oft-encountered question of how Quantum Computing will impact Blockchain technology.

The goal is to give an overview of what defines the Blockchain ecosystem, and an intro to the quantum computing capabilities that will inevitably impact this technology (as much as all other areas of IT).

Often this is looked at through the prism of how Shor's algorithm threatens the ECDSA crypto-system that underlies the Bitcoin protocol.

But there is much more to Blockchain tech than crypto currencies, and much more to QC than Shor's algo. I think a good argument can be made that these technologies can strongly benefit from cross-development.