Bitcoin Developer Jameson Lopp Advocates for Freezing 5.6 Million BTC to Prevent Quantum Hacking

A prominent Bitcoin developer, Jameson Lopp, has expressed his preference for freezing approximately 5.6 million lost or dormant bitcoin rather than risking them being compromised by future quantum hackers. In an interview, Lopp emphasized that he does not wish to freeze anyone's bitcoin but believes removing dormant tokens from circulation may be necessary to protect the network. His comments come after the release of BIP-361, a proposal that explores phasing out Bitcoin's current cryptographic signatures and potentially freezing assets that fail to migrate. Lopp views this as a contingency plan, hoping it will never be needed, and acknowledges that it goes against Bitcoin's core principles. The debate surrounding the proposal has sparked intense discussion within the community, with some arguing that freezing dormant accounts would undermine Bitcoin's guarantees of immutable and censorship-resistant ownership. Others, like Lopp, believe that the potential risks of quantum hacking pose a significant threat to the network's stability and confidence. The estimated 5.6 million dormant bitcoin, worth around $420 billion, have not moved in over a decade and are considered likely lost. If recovered through quantum computing, this could introduce significant volatility and undermine trust in the network. While no formal vote will take place on the proposal, any changes would require consensus across the decentralized network, and similar upgrades have in the past required overwhelming support from miners to activate.