So much for "unbreakable" codes...

 

Elon Musk dropped a bomb on the cryptocurrency market when he highlighted the impact of Google's recent announcement about the impact of quantum computing.

Elon Musk has added his voice to fears sparked by Google dramatically bringing forward its quantum computing timeline, putting almost $500 billion worth of bitcoin at risk.

"On the plus side, if you forgot the password to your wallet, it will be accessible in the future," Musk posted to X alongside a “conversation” with Musk’s Grok chatbot that said post-quantum migration for cryptocurrencies “is urgent now.”

Musk was responding to venture capitalist Max Reiff who summarized Google’s research as, “basically saying: ‘We’ve cut the quantum resources needed to break bitcoin’s encryption by 20x. We can now break it. We can prove it. We’re just not going to tell you how. We’ve slowed down research to give crypto a chance. You have until 2029 to figure out a solution. Good luck.’”

. . .

Earlier this week, Google’s Quantum AI team warned in a paper that the number of qubits required to break the cryptography protecting bitcoin and ethereum wallets is potentially as much as 20-fold lower than previous estimates.

“We’re setting a timeline for post-quantum cryptography migration to 2029,” Google’s vice president of security engineering Heather Adkins wrote in a blog post. "Quantum computers will pose a significant threat to current cryptographic standards, and specifically to encryption and digital signatures."

Venture capitalist Nic Carter, who has been sounding the alarm on quantum computing’s threat to crypto since last year, compared the quantum threat to the Manhattan Project, the top-secret U.S. government program that led to the development of nuclear weapons.

There's more at the link.

This is serious enough when it comes to cryptocurrency - any cryptocurrency.  There are no pieces of paper changing hands in cryptocurrency transactions.  It's all done electronically, with one's cryptocurrency holdings being held in an electronic "wallet" with a passcode to access them.  Until now, that passcode has been considered very secure in the face of current decoding/decryption technology.  However, quantum computers can tackle the decryption problem many orders of magnitude faster than present computers.  Once they're on the market, much that is cryptologically "secure" today will no longer be so.

Now, apply that to any other codes, cyphers, etc.  Literally any secret message at all will be subject to cryptological analysis and attack.  Top secret military signals, inter-bank communications about economic activity, diplomatic messages - any and all of them that use current encryption technology will be vulnerable.  Many believe that major actors in the field are already storing every encrypted message they can intercept, even if they can't read them, because when they can read them (with the aid of quantum computers) in a few years' time, they'll be a gold mine of historical information that can be used to analyze current events and predict future decisions.  Even so-called "one-time pad" or OTP encryption - seen until now as the only truly unbreakable code, provided that all requirements for their creation and use are strictly observed - won't be as secure if quantum computers can identify any failure to meet one or more requirements, and use that weakness to break into the code.  (However, quantum key distribution and other new technologies may step up to make the OTP even more secure.)

If Google's prediction is correct, a great deal that is now secret won't be for much longer.  That might be catastrophic in many ways.  On the other hand, James Howells might be happy at last!  He's the man who threw away a computer hard drive containing the key to a cryptocurrency wallet containing (he claims) about US $700 million in Bitcoin.  If he can recall the address of the wallet, the new quantum decryption technology might let him reclaim its contents . . . but only if someone else doesn't remember his story and get there ahead of him, locating the wallet, decrypting its key, and making off with the Bitcoin first!

Peter

Gold, lies and more lies?

 

France recently decided to repatriate the last of its gold reserves that had been stored in the USA for the past several decades.  The "official" story goes like this.

The Banque de France (BdF) announced last week that it generated a capital gain of €12.8 billion after upgrading 129 tonnes of gold – about 5 percent of France's total reserves – between July 2025 and January 2026.

The gold was the last of the French reserves held in New York. It was replaced with the equivalent amount bought in Europe and held in Paris. 

The BdF has been gradually replacing older, non‑standard gold with bars that meet ​modern international standards since 2005. It moved the majority of its gold reserves out of the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England between 1963 and 1966.

Rather than refining and transporting the gold that remained in the US, the bank opted to sell it and purchase new, compliant bullion on the European market.

. . .

France’s total gold reserves of about 2,437 tonnes – the fourth-largest in the world – are now all in Paris. This includes 134 tonnes of older bars and coins, which the bank intends to bring up to standard by 2028.

There's more at the link.

Understand that the gold bars France sold in the USA were almost certainly standard-weight bars of "three nines fine" metal (i.e. refined to at least 99.9% purity).  All gold bars traded internationally, and held in national gold reserves, are supposed to be so-called "good delivery" bars as specified by the London Bullion Market Association.  The bars stored in the USA would presumably have met that standard, or they could not have been traded as "good delivery" gold - only sold for re-refining and re-casting into standard bars.  Gold thus traded is less expensive than "good delivery" gold.  If the gold had been in non-standard format, it's unlikely that the USA would have paid France the price for "good delivery" gold bars.

However, this raises even more questions.  A market observer sends the following.

My two cents on the repatriation of French gold bars:
- France asked to return their 12.5 kg gold bars
- US had already sold them
- US offered to wire the money
- France accepted and bought new 12.5 kg gold bars in London
- Both countries agreed on the following spin to sell the story: 
- new bars bought to ‘meet current standards’ 
- Spin is 100% bullshit
- 12.5 kg 999.9 pure gold bars have always been 999.9 pure gold bars of 12,5 kg
- previous gold repatriations always happened without the ‘need for current standards’ 
- MSM doesn’t ask questions and prints spin
- Another PR disaster avoided for the US/FED 
- The rigging of the dollar system can go on 
- The can can be kicked a bit further down the road

I find it very hard to disagree with him.  I think he's right.  I think the US Federal Reserve had already sold off the gold that France had on deposit in the USA, so it could not return it when France asked for it.  Instead, the USA offered an equivalent value in dollars, which France was quick to accept.  It bought gold in Europe using that money (and now proudly claims it made a profit on the gold, having bought it before the recent price ramp-up).

Back in January, I asked:

What happened to the audit of US gold reserves in Fort Knox that we were promised?  Where is it?  Where are the results?  The subject has literally vanished from view.  My conclusion is that it's being deliberately suppressed;  and if that's the case, then I can only assume that our gold reserves simply aren't there any more.

Again, more at the link.

Is that what happened to France's US gold holdings as well?  In the light of this news, I hope more people will ask the same questions about both US and French gold reserves, loudly and repeatedly, until we get answers.  Will they be truthful answers?  Your guess is as good as mine . . .

Peter

Memes that made me laugh 306

 

Gathered from around the Internet over the past week.  Click any image for a larger view.

Sunday morning music

 

I went to high school with a young man named Eric.  I'll withhold his surname, because he lived and worked as a missionary in some very sensitive areas of southern Africa, from the worst days of the apartheid civil war to the social and economic collapse of more recent times.  He made enemies as well as friends, and I wouldn't want the former to seek to harm the latter.  Eric was a good man, and did a great deal of good for others at a time when far too many people were seeking only their own good, and dealing out whatever it took to make sure they got it at anyone and everyone else's expense.

I learned yesterday that Eric died some time ago.  Sad news, and it brought back memories.  We both enjoyed Johnny Clegg and his group Juluka, so I've been listening to some of their songs, thinking about my friend.  I thought I'd share a couple with you.  They go a lot deeper than surface listening, as anyone who's lived in Africa - the real Africa, not the tourist traps - will tell you.

Godspeed, Eric.

Peter

Heads up - shotgun bargains

 

For the benefit of anyone thinking about buying a shotgun, CDNN Sports has a flash sale on shotguns right now.  Their sales flyer can be found at this link.  Prices are only valid for a day or two, so if you're interested, click over there ASAP.  No, I'm not being compensated in any way for mentioning this - CDNN don't even know I'm putting it up - but their prices are very low, and the quality of the Silver Eagle shotguns is pretty good.  I've used a few.  For more details about the shotguns they're advertising, click on the image of the one you want.

To put the sale in perspective, a new single-shot shotgun usually sells for anywhere between $125 and $175.  CDNN has a pump-action repeater for $120.  That's a great deal in anyone's book!  You could buy four or five of them for the price of a single good-quality handgun.  If you've ever thought of equipping every adult member of your household with a defensive firearm, that's a pretty good place to start.  Their sporting shotguns (with longer barrels) are also a good deal for beginners who need their own shotgun, rather than borrowing someone else's expensive setup.

I'll try to put up another post later today.  I just thought this sale deserved to be publicized.

Peter