Quantum Entanglement in Time for a Distributed Ledger
This addresses security risks in distributed ledgers for users vulnerable to quantum computing threats, representing a novel integration rather than an incremental improvement.
The paper tackles the vulnerability of current distributed ledger technologies to quantum attacks by constructing a Quantum Distributed Ledger (QDL) that integrates quantum information technologies with decentralized data storage, resulting in enhanced security against middleman attacks while maintaining decentralization.
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) is a shared, synchronized and replicated data spread spatially and temporally with no centralized administration and/or storage. Each node has a complete and identical set of records. All participants contribute to building and maintaining the distributed ledger. Current DLT technologies fall into two broad categories. Those that use block-chains such as in Bitcoin or Ethereum, and newer approaches which reduce computational loads for verification. All current approaches though difficult to crack can be vulnerable to quantum algorithms using Quantum Information Technologies (QIT). This effort joins the 2 technologies, constructing a Quantum Distributed Ledger (QDL) which provides a higher level of security using QIT and a decentralized data depository using DLT. This enhanced security prevents middleman attacks with quantum computers yet retains the advantages of a decentralized ledger of data.