Cardano Founder Disputes Bitcoin's Quantum Solution, Claims it Won't Save Early Coins

Recently, Bitcoin's core developers proposed a solution to protect against quantum attacks by freezing 8 million coins. However, Charles Hoskinson, founder of Cardano, believes this solution is insufficient to safeguard the network's oldest coins, including Satoshi Nakamoto's holdings. In a YouTube video, Hoskinson stated that the proposed defense, known as BIP-361, is technically flawed and would require a hard fork to implement, which could invalidate existing signature schemes. He argued that the proposal's authors are misrepresenting it as a soft fork, which would not require significant changes to the network. A hard fork, on the other hand, would change the network's rules, potentially causing it to split unless all users upgrade. Hoskinson also criticized the proposal's reliance on zero-knowledge proofs tied to BIP-39 seed phrases, which would not be applicable to approximately 1.7 million pre-2013 coins, including those associated with Satoshi Nakamoto. These early coins were generated using a different key derivation method and would remain frozen even if their owners attempted to migrate. Jameson Lopp, the core developer behind BIP-361, has acknowledged the proposal's limitations, describing it as a rough idea rather than a finalized specification. Hoskinson's critique extends beyond the technical aspects, arguing that Bitcoin's lack of formal on-chain governance hinders the network's ability to resolve tradeoffs and implement upgrades in a structured manner.