argue<\/a> for optional, opt\u2011in upgrades instead of forcibly freezing old wallets. \u201cPreparation is much safer than hasty responses in a crisis,\u201d Back said, insisting that the network should build quantum\u2011resistant paths now while preserving user choice and property rights.<\/p>\nBack described today\u2019s quantum computers as \u201cessentially lab experiments\u201d and noted he has followed the field for more than 25 years, during which progress has been \u201cincremental,\u201d but warned that Bitcoin cannot afford to wait until a real\u2011world break occurs. He also pushed back on calls to lock down coins by protocol fiat, arguing that the Bitcoin community has shown it can coordinate under pressure and that \u201cbugs have been identified and fixed within hours\u201d in past emergencies.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
BIP\u2011361 would freeze 1.7 million BTC if users fail to move<\/h1>\n
Back\u2019s comments directly contrast with BIP\u2011361, \u201cPost\u2011Quantum Migration and Legacy Signature Sunset,\u201d a proposal from Jameson Lopp and five co\u2011authors that would gradually phase out quantum\u2011vulnerable outputs and ultimately freeze unmigrated coins. The draft, which builds on BIP\u2011360\u2019s soft\u2011fork framework, introduces a quantum\u2011resistant output type and targets early formats such as pay\u2011to\u2011public\u2011key (P2PK) addresses that expose public keys on\u2011chain.<\/p>\n
Estimates cited by CoinMarketCap and other publications say roughly 1.7 million BTC \u2014 about 34% of total supply, including Satoshi Nakamoto\u2019s early holdings valued around $70\u2013$80 billion at current prices \u2014 still sit in quantum\u2011exposed address types. Under BIP\u2011361\u2019s three\u2011phase schedule, Phase A would begin three years after activation and ban new payments to legacy addresses, while still allowing spending from them.<\/p>\n
Five years after activation, Phase B would go further by rendering old ECDSA and Schnorr signatures invalid, meaning any coins that had not been migrated to quantum\u2011resistant outputs would be effectively frozen on the network. Lopp and co\u2011authors frame this as necessary to prevent \u201cintergenerational theft\u201d by a future quantum adversary and to avoid a scenario where an attacker can seize dormant wallets and crash trust in Bitcoin\u2019s fixed\u2011supply narrative.<\/p>\n
Back and other critics counter that deliberately freezing coins crosses a red line for decentralization and censorship resistance, amounting to protocol\u2011level expropriation even if done in the name of security. They argue that Bitcoin has historically relied on social consensus and voluntary upgrades, and that the community should instead focus on offering robust quantum\u2011safe options, education and incentives so users migrate out of genuine self\u2011interest rather than under threat of losing control over their funds.<\/p>\n
In previous crypto.news coverage of protocol\u2011level governance battles and hard\u2011fork debates, similar tensions have surfaced between risk\u2011mitigation schemes and the movement\u2019s founding principles, from block\u2011size wars to taproot activation. The quantum fight, now centered on BIP\u2011361 and Back\u2019s rival vision of optional defenses, is shaping up as the next major test of how far Bitcoiners are willing to go to \u201csave\u201d the network without breaking what made it attractive in the first place.<\/p>\n
<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Summary Blockstream CEO Adam Back backs \u201coptional\u201d quantum-resistant upgrades and rejects freezing quantum\u2011vulnerable wallets. His stance clashes with BIP\u2011361, a three\u2011phase plan that would eventually invalidate legacy signatures and freeze…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14967,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26102","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\/26102","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=26102"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26103,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26102\/revisions\/26103"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}