<\/a>\u200b<\/p>\nBIP 360, co-authored by Hunter Beast, Ethan Heilman, and Isabel Foxen Duke, proposes a new Bitcoin output type called Pay-to-Merkle-Root (P2MR) \u2014 a direct response to one of Bitcoin\u2019s most discussed long-term vulnerabilities: the exposure of elliptic curve public keys to quantum computing attacks. Under current Bitcoin architecture, certain transaction types \u2014 particularly P2PK outputs and Taproot (P2TR) addresses \u2014 leave public keys exposed on-chain, where a sufficiently powerful quantum computer running Shor\u2019s algorithm could theoretically derive the corresponding private keys and drain the associated funds. An estimated 6.26 million BTC, representing roughly $440 billion at recent prices, sits in quantum-vulnerable address types.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
From Taproot to Merkle Root: How P2MR Works<\/h1>\n
P2MR operates with nearly identical functionality to Bitcoin\u2019s existing Taproot output type but with one critical modification: it removes the key path spending mechanism introduced by Taproot, which allows a transaction to be authorised by a single public key signature. Under P2MR, all UTXOs must be spent exclusively through script paths \u2014 Tapscript Merkle trees \u2014 which rely on hash-based commitments rather than elliptic curve public keys. Since hash functions are considered substantially more resistant to quantum attacks than elliptic curve cryptography, this eliminates a major surface area for long-exposure quantum attacks.<\/p>\n
Crucially, P2MR retains full compatibility with Bitcoin\u2019s existing smart contract capabilities, including multi-signature arrangements, timelocks, and complex custody structures. BIP 360\u2019s authors have also confirmed compatibility with the Lightning Network, BitVM, and Ark \u2014 the key Bitcoin scaling and programmability frameworks that depend on Taproot architecture \u2014 making the upgrade additive rather than disruptive to the ecosystem.<\/p>\n
BTQ\u2019s v0.3.0 testnet release validates BIP 360 across the full transaction lifecycle: address creation, funding, transaction construction, signing, mempool acceptance, broadcast, and confirmation. Additional enhancements include optimised one-minute block spacing for faster iteration, a restored SegWit discount \u2014 critical given that post-quantum signature schemes using NIST-standardised ML-DSA (Dilithium) cryptography produce substantially larger transactions than standard Bitcoin signatures \u2014 and Dilithium signature hardening through improved sigop counting and tapscript security fixes. The testnet currently connects over 50 miners and has processed more than 100,000 blocks.<\/p>\n
It is important to note the boundaries of what BIP 360 achieves. The proposal addresses long-exposure quantum vulnerability \u2014 the risk that an attacker harvests today\u2019s public keys for decryption once quantum hardware matures \u2014 but does not yet protect against short-exposure attacks, where a quantum computer would need to break a signature within the time a transaction is unconfirmed. Full post-quantum security for Bitcoin will require additional proposals covering signature schemes. BIP 360 is, by its authors\u2019 own description, a necessary first step rather than a complete solution \u2014 but Thursday\u2019s deployment demonstrates that the infrastructure for that transition is no longer purely theoretical.<\/p>\n
<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Summary BTQ\u2019s Bitcoin Quantum Testnet v0.3.0 now supports BIP 360\u2019s Pay-to-Merkle-Root (P2MR) outputs, which remove Taproot\u2019s key path spending and force all UTXOs through hash-based script paths to reduce long-exposure…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10067,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cryptocurrency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24090"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24090\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24091,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24090\/revisions\/24091"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}