Google’s ‘crazy tool’ could make blockchain obsolete – Experts suggest ‘wild’ and ‘exciting’ times ahead in ‘high risk, high reward’ effort

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Google is developing a digital currency concept that could completely eliminate the need for blockchain technology by leveraging the fundamental laws of physics instead of complex computer code, according to the company’s researchers.

A new study titled “Anonymous Quantum Tokens with Classical Verification” presents a new protocol that allows a bank to distribute quantum tokens that are indistinguishable before measurement. It allows users to validate their tokens using only classic operations. The research was carried out by scientists from Google Quantum AI, the University of Texas at Austin and the Czech Academy of Sciences. The article advances a decades-old theoretical concept for a currency that would be protected by the immutable laws of quantum physics.

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According to the study’s authors, the groundbreaking research into “quantum currency” directly challenges the technological foundations that have supported cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin for more than a decade. Rather than relying on distributed ledgers and computing power, this new approach would secure digital currency through quantum mechanics itself.

“It’s this crazy tool.” Dar Gilboaa Google Quantum AI researcher and co-author of the study, told Decrypt. “You get to do all these crazy things. It’s high risk, high reward, but that’s what makes it exciting.”

The quantum currency system makes counterfeiting not only computationally difficult, as Bitcoin does, but physically impossible. “If you had a dollar bill that was actually a quantum state, you could prove, based on the properties of quantum mechanics, that copying such a state is impossible,” Gilboa told Decrypt. “You can only succeed with a very low probability.”

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The main goal of Blockchain technology is to prevent “double spending” without requiring a central authority, Decrypt reported. It does this by maintaining a massive, public, and permanent accounting system that anyone can monitor and audit. Quantum money solves the same problem in a more direct method. If the token itself is physically impossible to copy and can only be spent once, there is no need for a global ledger to track who owns what throughout history.

“We are not solving the same problem,” Gilboa told Decrypt. “What we’re doing is not decentralized, so it’s not really an analogue of cryptocurrencies in the strict sense.”

This revolutionary concept first appeared in 1969 when physicist Stephen Wiesner has proposed a method to create a “private key quantum currency” designed to be impossible to duplicate, CryptoRank reported. Wiesner’s paper, which was not published until 1983, described a system in which each banknote would exist as a unique quantum state linked to a serial number. Only the currency issuing the currency would have the ability to verify its authenticity, creating an unprecedented level of security.

The initial concept led to further exploration of public key quantum currency. Scientists have developed additional models for quantum currency, according to Cryptorank; however, these proposals proved less practical, preventing their implementation.

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Google’s latest study describes a system involving a trusted central issuer, such as a bank or government institution, that would be responsible for creating and validating quantum tokens. Unlike current monetary systems, the issuer would have no ability to track how money flows through the economy once it enters circulation.

The system includes a built-in verification method that protects user privacy, through which individuals can perform a “test swap” on their tokens to determine whether the issuer is attempting to secretly tag or trace their money, Decrypt reported.

“If they are not the same, that means the bank could be tracking you. Any attempt by the bank to secretly label their money would be instantly exposed,” Gilboa told Decrypt.

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This article Google’s ‘Crazy Tool’ Could Make Blockchain Obsolete – Experts Suggest ‘Wild’ and ‘Exciting’ Times Ahead in ‘High-Risk, High-Reward’ Effort originally appeared on Benzinga.com