Bitcoin News Today: Bitcoin Developers Propose Freezing 25% of BTC to Combat Quantum Threat

Developers have raised concerns about the potential risks that quantum computing poses to Bitcoin, with a particular focus on the vulnerability of certain addresses. Jameson Lopp, along with five other developers, has proposed a radical Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) aimed at mitigating these risks. The proposal suggests freezing bitcoins stored in addresses that are deemed vulnerable to quantum attacks, a measure that would affect approximately 25% of bitcoins in circulation, including the 1 million BTC allegedly owned by Satoshi Nakamoto.

The proposal involves several steps, including a gradual ban on sending BTC to old vulnerable addresses, blocking all spending from these addresses after a five-year delay unless prior migration, and an optional phase for post-quantum recovery of frozen funds. The goal is to prevent a collapse of trust caused by the massive compromise of private keys via quantum computing. The authors of the proposal emphasize the historic moment for Bitcoin, stating that it has never faced an existential threat to its crypto primitives. They argue that the status quo could cost much more than adopting this exceptional measure.

However, the proposal faces significant technical and political challenges. The adoption of a BIP relies on a complex community consensus, which is often slow to form. Additionally, post-quantum crypto signatures involve a significant increase in data size, reigniting old debates about network scalability. Other developers have proposed alternative solutions, such as Hunter Beast's BIP 360, which aims to incorporate new types of post-quantum addresses, and Michael B. Casey's "Hourglass" solution, which aims to limit transaction throughput from old wallets without freezing them.

The community is exploring various, often competing, scenarios to address the same problem: how to ensure Bitcoin network security against a still abstract threat, but whose window for materialization is rapidly closing. If this proposal were accepted, it would inaugurate a new era for Bitcoin, where crypto security would no longer be just an individual matter, but also a responsibility of the protocol itself. Conversely, refusal to modify could preserve the integrity of the current system, at the cost of a risky bet on the pace of technological progress.