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Cryptographers bet cash on when quantum computers will beat encryption

It is thought that quantum computers will eventually be able to crack the encryption methods we use today, but exactly when this will happen is an open question. Now, one cryptographer has started a betting pool

By Matthew Sparkes

30 April 2023

Encrypted data is safe from quantum computers, but for how long?

Andriy Onufriyenko/Getty Images

Cryptography experts are betting thousands of dollars on how long it will be until quantum computers can render modern encryption methods obsolete – but the smart money seems to be on this being a few decades away.

Writing on a mailing list devoted to post-quantum cryptography – a field that studies encryption methods that are resistant to the increased power of quantum computers – John Mattsson at Ericsson Research in Sweden offered a wager of $2050 that no quantum machine would break…

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