Cryptocurrency Continues Down the Path to Quantum-resistant Cryptography. Cryptocurrency Komodo is using the quantum-resistant algorithm Dilithium to protect its blockchain. Though still a few years off, this early instantiation is another example of the budding awareness of quantum computing’s likely threat to encryption schema.
Komodo and Dilithium. Excerpt: Komodo writes: “While quantum computers have not yet been produced, they are currently in development. Experts believe they’ll be developed in the near future, perhaps in the next 5 to 10 years. The invention will jeopardize all of modern cryptography as we know it.”
Individual blockchains can take precautions by using quantum-resistant signature schemes. However, commonplace cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin use signature schemes that could be broken by quantum computers in the next few decades. Fortunately, quantum-resistant signature schemes exist, and some blockchains are adopting them.
Dilithium is simply one type of quantum-resistant signature. Komodo managed to introduce Dilithium very quickly thanks to the nature of the Komodo blockchain, which allows “smart modules” to be introduced without a major upgrade. This means that Dilithium is immediately available as a plugin for Komodo projects.
Komodo’s version of Dilithium also adds a new consensus rule. This requires each transaction to be signed twice: once for the original Komodo signature scheme, and once for the new Dilithium signature scheme. This guarantees that transactions that take place on Komodo-based Dilithium blockchains are secure against quantum attacks.