Charles Hoskinson Claims Bitcoin's Quantum Solution is a Hard Fork that Fails to Rescue Satoshi's Coins

Bitcoin developers have proposed freezing 8 million coins to safeguard against quantum attacks. However, Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano, believes this solution is insufficient to protect the network's oldest coins, including those attributed to Satoshi Nakamoto. According to Hoskinson, the proposed defense, BIP-361, is mislabeled as a soft fork and would require a hard fork due to its invalidation of existing signature schemes. A hard fork would be necessary, which contradicts Bitcoin's historical opposition to such changes. The proposal suggests using zero-knowledge proofs tied to BIP-39 seed phrases for users to reclaim frozen funds, but Hoskinson argues this approach is ineffective for approximately 1.7 million bitcoin created before 2013, including those associated with Satoshi's early mining activities. These early coins were generated using a different key derivation method and would remain permanently frozen even if the proposal is adopted. Jameson Lopp, the core developer behind BIP-361, has expressed his dislike for the proposal, considering it a contingency plan rather than a finalized specification. Hoskinson's criticism extends beyond the technical aspects, highlighting Bitcoin's lack of formal on-chain governance, which hinders the network's ability to resolve tradeoffs through a structured process.