A new proposal aims to protect Bitcoin’s foundational wealth from future quantum threats. BIP-361, authored by cypherpunk Jameson Lopp and others, suggests freezing approximately $75 billion worth of Bitcoin attributed to Satoshi Nakamoto. This move addresses growing concerns highlighted by a recent Google report that a quantum computer could break BTC’s private keys in under ten minutes.
A proposal called BIP-361 has been introduced to preemptively secure Bitcoin ahead of quantum computers becoming publicly available. The proposal was authored by cypherpunk Jameson Lopp and five other co-authors. The plan specifically targets freezing the estimated $75 billion worth of Bitcoin belonging to Satoshi Nakamoto.
The urgency stems from a recent report from Google stating a future quantum computer could break Bitcoin’s private keys in nine minutes. This timeframe is about a minute less than Bitcoin’s average block time. While Bitcoin developers are working on quantum safeguards, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has expressed skepticism about the current proposal.
Hoskinson posted a video on his YouTube page outlining his thoughts. He believes the BIP-361 proposal would require a hard fork, not a soft fork as claimed. Hoskinson also stated that a hard fork could go against Bitcoin’s culture.
He argues the zero-knowledge recovery mechanism in the proposal would not protect 1.7 million older Bitcoin. Of these, 1.1 million belong to Satoshi Nakamoto. Hoskinson believes this is because these older coins were created before BIP-39 seed phrases existed.
Hoskinson stated that if the proposal passes in its current form, the frozen Bitcoin could be lost forever. He characterized the proposal as “a rough idea for a contingency plan.” Quantum computers are advancing, and Ethereum has already stated its post-quantum security journey. Bitcoin is likely to follow a similar path in addressing these emerging security challenges.
