Gianluca Di Bella, a smart contract researcher focused on zero-knowledge proofs, emphasizes that the threat posed by quantum computing is not a future issue but a current reality.

In an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph at the United Nations City office in Copenhagen, Di Bella pointed out, "We should migrate now" to post-quantum cryptographic standards. He explained that the main risk comes from the so-called "collect now, decrypt later" attack model, where data is collected and stored until future technological advancements make decryption possible.

"For example, if dissidents in authoritarian countries are only protected by encryption, they need to ensure that this data remains secure for the next 10, 15, 20 years, or even longer," Di Bella stated. He noted that while practical commercial quantum computing may still take 10 to 15 years, he warned that "large institutions like Microsoft or Google may have breakthrough solutions in just a few years."

Di Bella also raised what he calls the "quantum bleaching" phenomenon, where certain companies make dubious claims about the characteristics and capabilities of quantum systems. At the same time, he expressed a concern: if China develops a system capable of breaking modern cryptography, they are likely to keep this newly acquired capability from the rest of the world.

Once quantum computing reaches the necessary capabilities and scale (some experts are skeptical about this), it could undermine the security foundations of traditional cryptography and zero-knowledge proofs. This would lead to the decryption of encrypted data, the forgery of proofs generated by traditional zero-knowledge proofs, and the creation of false valid statements or the circumvention of verification systems.

Currently, there are various post-quantum cryptographic standards, some of which have been approved by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)—notably ML-KEM, ML-DSA, and SLH-DSA. However, there is no sufficiently mature post-quantum zero-knowledge proof standard. This is precisely the area Di Bella is actively researching through his co-founded smart contract development company, Mood Global Services.

Di Bella pointed out that PLONK (Permutations over Lagrange bases for Oecumenical Noninteractive arguments of Knowledge) is a post-quantum zero-knowledge proof implementation scheme. However, these technologies have not yet been "battle-tested" and are still considered to be in the research phase.

When discussing how long it would take for PLONK development to reach practical application, Di Bella admitted that accurately predicting timelines is highly challenging and expressed regret over the lack of investment in the field. He noted, "This is a highly specialized niche area that requires a lot of expertise, which often leads to reduced investment and slowed development."

"If you are a research and development manager at any company, you wouldn't invest in an area you don't understand," he emphasized.

Di Bella explained that zero-knowledge proof development primarily occurs in low-level Rust programming, with almost no abstraction layers and extremely high complexity. In a sense, the programming of most zero-knowledge proof systems resembles the complexity of early programming.

"While we are now accustomed to high-level programming languages abstracting complexity for us, the programming of such systems 'has completely returned to the realm of pure mathematics,'" Di Bella said.

Related: Willy Woo proposes quantum threat response: store Bitcoin (BTC) in SegWit wallet for 7 years

Original article: “Researchers say we should migrate to post-quantum encryption systems now”

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