Shor’s algorithm sits underneath every conversation about quantum and Bitcoin. It was published in 1994, long before anyone could build a quantum computer, and it is the reason a large enough machine could work backward from a public key to the private key behind it. So what does it actually do, and why can’t better randomness or a stronger key protect against it? In the 12th episode of The Quantum Bitcoin Podcast, Bitcoin historian Pete Rizzo and co-host Nathan Jeffay put that question to Eli Ben-Sasson, co-founder and CEO of StarkWare and co-inventor of the STARK proof system, who says that once a capable quantum computer arrives, no key with an exposed public key will be safe.Episode 12 is the one that explains the math behind the threat: what Peter Shor discovered, how a quantum computer can explore many possibilities at once before collapsing to a single answer, and why the repeating patterns hidden inside factoring and elliptic curve keys are exactly what it exploits. He explains why systems built on hashes, lattices and STARKs lack that structure, the 3 fronts where steady progress is bringing a working machine closer, and why AI could produce faster versions of Shor’s algorithm. It covers StarkWare’s move to explore turning Starknet into a quantum-safe layer 1 rather than wait on Ethereum, why he calls the QSB transaction a band-aid, and why he wants Bitcoiners to stop treating ossification as a virtue and speak up for soft forks. It closes with a step-by-step mental image of how Shor’s algorithm finds a key, why perfect entropy offers no protection, and his warning that Bitcoin’s value would fall sharply without a fix.The Quantum Bitcoin Podcast is a series examining the quantum threat to Bitcoin, designed to be watched in sequence. Each episode opens with a discussion between the hosts, presents extended interviews with expert guests on a single key question, and closes with a recap of how the evidence has changed their thinking.Links referenced:StarkWare - https://starkware.co/Starknet - https://www.starknet.io/Quantum Safe Bitcoin (QSB) paper - [link]Eli Ben-Sasson’s Singapore talk on Starknet as a layer 1 - [link]https://www.nist.gov/pqcryptoCryptography and physicshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shor%27s_algorithmhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Shorhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integer_factorizationhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSA_cryptosystemhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliptic_Curve_Digital_Signature_Algorithmhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grover%27s_algorithmhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schr%C3%B6dinger%27s_cathttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_error_correctionhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-quantum_cryptographyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lattice-based_cryptographyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-knowledge_proofhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Encryption_Standardhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SHA-2GUESTSEli Ben-Sasson is the co-founder and CEO of StarkWare, the company behind Starknet, and a co-inventor of STARK proofs, the zero-knowledge proof system that secures it. He is a former professor of computer science at the Technion, a founding scientist of Zcash, and has been involved in Bitcoin research since 2013.FOLLOWThe Quantum Bitcoin Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@QuantumBitcoinPodcastPete Rizzo: https://x.com/pete_rizzo_Eli Ben-Sasson: https://x.com/EliBenSassonNew episodes release weekly. Subscribe to follow the full series.

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