Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
Quantum entities are fundamentally offensive to our experience and intuition. They are like a four-dimensional physical universe. We can’t imagine a world with length, width, and height plus a fourth dimension. But we can handle this notion mathematically. The same is true for quantum entities.
The illustrious Richard Feynman, one of the framers of quantum physics, spilled the beans: “Nobody,” he said, “understands quantum physics.” But we can math-handle it and draw benefits from its weird behavior. The sharpest departure of quantum entities from ordinary, Newtonian entities lies in the recognition that quantum entities don’t have measurable features unless and until we measure them. You are in good company if this sounds ridiculous.
And, what’s more, we measure quantum with quantum. The combination of the quantum state of the measurement device and the measured entity is described in the mathematics that underlies quantum computing and also dictates that, if we measure one way, we get one reading, but if we measure in another way, we read something else.
What this means is that, by looking at quantum entities, we change them. We can use this weird feature to solve a very troubling cyber challenge. Hackers can sneak in, read your data, and, if they don’t change anything, you will never be the wiser. Data written in quantum, by contrast, cannot be read without leaving the readers’ footprints. This means that one can be convinced of the “virginity” of data. Using “quantum money,” a payee and a payor can be sure that no one copied this coin.
Money is a means to get members of society participating in an organized plan of action, solving problems. Quantum money could be much more efficient as a motivator, activator, and problem-solver. The consequences hidden in the switch from Newtonian entities to quantum implements may be far greater than we can imagine so early in the game. Indeed, quantum money is still a far-off destination on the technological roadmap.
Still, small but important steps have been taken. For one, money is constructed from a “capsule” of meta data, plus a “payload” comprising regular but quantum-randomized bits. This separation of the capsule and its payload allows for digital cash registers, where the payload is housed while the capsule is handed over and traded the way checks have been for years.
Payment is settled when a check is cashed. Similarly, with quantum digital coin, the communication of the payload is the act of settled payment. The payloads are preserved in a digital cash register. These digital cash registers may be housed and protected in financial institutions, but they may also be stored (capsule and payload) in one’s phone or hard wallet, and be used for cash-equivalent payment with privacy, thus achieving payment continuity when the Internet is down.
Payment systems hinge on data ledgers, which are vulnerable to hackers. The blockchain is one innovative solution to maintain ledgers’ integrity. Alas, it relies on shaky protective mathematical trusses. Quantum technology, by contrast, can be used to secure ledgers in a quantum-technology “rock.” The data in the rock is off the digital grid and is expressed through the atomic structure of the rock.
The downside of the new money technology is that it may create a currency that can flow, accumulate ,and be totally undetectable, creating hidden power centers that are rich enough to change the course of history and make democracy an empty shell. If we choose to design the future of money with the power of quantum, we should be alert to the harm the same technology can inflict.
—Gideon Samid, gideon@bitmint.com
