Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) is an emerging trend in digital payments, with the vast majority of central banks around the world researching, piloting, or even operating a digital version of cash. While design choices differ broadly, such as accounts vs. tokens, the wallets are generally protected through cryptographic algorithms that safeguard against double spending and ensure non-repudiation. With the advent of quantum computing, these algorithms are threatened by new attack vectors. To better understand those threats, we conducted a study of typical assets in a CBDC system, describe which ones are most amenable to post-quantum cryptography, and propose an upgrade strategy.
@article{arxiv.2308.15787,
title = {How does post-quantum cryptography affect Central Bank Digital Currency?},
author = {Lars Hupel and Makan Rafiee},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2308.15787},
year = {2024}
}
Comments
Extended version with an additional section on the new attack model posed by quantum computing