The new supercomputer El Capitan, performing 2.79 quadrillion calculations per second, raises concerns in the crypto industry about future quantum computers’ potential to crack blockchains.
The cryptocurrency industry has long harbored concerns regarding the possibility of computers being able to penetrate blockchains and disrupt networks such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.
However, this possibility may be closer than they realize, as quantum computers are the only computing devices capable of achieving this feat at the current rate of supercomputers.
The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s researchers recently disclosed that their most recent supercomputer, El Capitan, is capable of performing 2.79 quadrillion calculations per second, rendering it the quickest computer in the world.
In order to comprehend the magnitude, that is 2.79, followed by 15 zeroes.
LLNL has unveiled the most powerful supercomputer and first #Exascale machine dedicated to #NationalSecurity. With a sustained performance of 1.742 exaFLOPs on the @top500supercomp, El Capitan becomes the first HPC machine to surpass the 2 exaFlOP barrier! https://t.co/A5wStJn417 pic.twitter.com/MlGaeSdm0c
— Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (@Livermore_Lab) November 18, 2024
“To put this in some perspective, it would take more than a million of the latest iPhones working on one calculation at the same time to equal what El Capitan can do in one second,” Jeremy Thomas of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory told Decrypt. “That’s a stack of phones over 5 miles high.”
The annual SC Conference, an international conference that concentrates on high-performance computing, was held in Atlanta, Georgia on Monday, during which the results were disclosed. El Capitan was designated as the leading supercomputer on the biannual Top 500 Project list of the 500 most potent supercomputers in the world.
The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, which is situated in Livermore, California, collaborated with the Department of Energy, AMD, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise to create El Capitan.
Big day at #SC24!! Excited to announce El Capitan, powered by @AMD is now the world’s fastest supercomputer at 1.742 exaflops! We now power 5 of the top 10 and 21 of the top 50 supercomputers in the world. Thanks to @HPE, @Livermore_Lab, @ENERGY for their partnership! pic.twitter.com/VRZFK4Gnn1
— Lisa Su (@LisaSu) November 18, 2024
A supercomputer is intended to perform intricate tasks, including research, artificial intelligence development, and simulations, at a significantly quicker rate than the average computer, as its name implies. For instance, a computer such as El Capitan, which executes 2.7 quadrillion operations per second, is up to 5.4 million times more efficient than a typical household computer.
Thomas estimated that it would require over 8 billion individuals working simultaneously for eight years to achieve what El Capitan can do in a single second, using the phone analogy.
The blockchain industry, which heavily relies on robust cryptography for security, has been the subject of speculation regarding El Capitan’s potential influence. However, blockchain encryption specialists contend that these concerns are unfounded.
Switzerland-based Arcium, which was established in 2022, is dedicated to the development of a decentralized supercomputer network that enables developers to execute encrypted computations securely and efficiently on blockchains.
The computational asymmetry inherent in the cryptographic schemes used, such as elliptic curve cryptography found in blockchains like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana, would require a supercomputer like El Capitan 10 billion years to brute force a 256-bit private key, despite its capacity to perform 2700 quadrillion operations per second, according to Schrade.
Blockchain developers favor Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) due to its robust security and efficiency. Schrade elucidates that quantum computing poses the most significant threat to the security of these cryptographic systems, as it has the potential to undermine the computational asymmetry that underpins the security of current cryptographic models.
Schrade stated that the primary source of power for a supercomputer is parallelization, which involves the simultaneous execution of numerous tasks. Additionally, the data is still processed in binary, via bits. Quantum computers, in contrast, employ quantum bits, or qubits, which capitalize on quantum principles such as entanglement and superposition”. It is a distinct aspect of computation.
