Bitcoin Developer Jameson Lopp Advocates for Freezing 5.6 Million BTC to Prevent Hacker Exploitation

According to Jameson Lopp, a prominent Bitcoin core developer, it would be preferable to freeze the estimated 5.6 million lost or dormant bitcoins rather than risking them being exploited by future quantum hackers. Lopp emphasized that he does not want to freeze anyone's bitcoin, but removing dormant tokens from potential circulation may be a safer option for the network. He stated that his comments are based on thinking about potential future threats, rather than an immediate necessity. Lopp's comments follow the release of BIP-361, a proposal that explores phasing out bitcoin's current cryptographic signatures and potentially freezing assets that fail to migrate. The dormant tokens in question are worth approximately $420 billion at current prices. Lopp has expressed his reservations about the proposal, describing it as a 'rough idea for a contingency plan' rather than a finalized specification. He hopes it never needs to be adopted, but believes it may be necessary to incentivize the ecosystem to upgrade before any real threat emerges. Approximately 28% of all bitcoin, or about 5.6 million tokens, has not moved in over a decade and is considered likely lost. If recovered through advances in quantum computing, this amount could introduce significant volatility and undermine confidence in the original crypto network. The proposal has sparked fierce debate within the community, with some arguing that freezing dormant bitcoin accounts would mark a significant departure from Bitcoin's core principles. Market analyst Mati Greenspan noted that the debate is more philosophical than technological, and that freezing dormant coins could remove a major tail-risk and protect market confidence, but also introduces a precedent of intervention that many would argue is more dangerous than the threat itself. Others argue that freezing dormant BTC accounts risks undermining Bitcoin's foundational guarantees, as ownership becomes conditional and having keys no longer guarantees the ability to spend.