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

Following a proposal by Bitcoin's core developers to freeze 8 million coins as a defense against quantum attacks, Charles Hoskinson expressed his skepticism about the plan's ability to protect Satoshi Nakamoto's coins in a video posted on his YouTube channel. Hoskinson argued that the proposed solution, BIP-361, is misclassified as a soft fork and would actually require a hard fork due to its impact on existing signature schemes. He emphasized that this distinction is crucial, given Bitcoin's historical opposition to hard forks. The BIP-361 proposal suggests using zero-knowledge proofs tied to BIP-39 seed phrases for users to reclaim frozen funds, but Hoskinson pointed out that this approach would not work for approximately 1.7 million bitcoins created before 2013, including those associated with Satoshi Nakamoto. These early coins were generated using a different key derivation method and would remain permanently frozen if the proposal is implemented. Jameson Lopp, the co-author of BIP-361, has expressed his own reservations about the proposal, describing it as 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 as a major obstacle in resolving such tradeoffs.