Cardano Founder Challenges Bitcoin's Quantum Solution, Deems it Ineffective for Satoshi's Coins

Recently, Bitcoin's core developers suggested a plan to protect 8 million coins from quantum attacks. However, Charles Hoskinson, founder of Cardano, expressed his skepticism about this proposal in a video, stating it would not be able to safeguard the coins belonging to Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of the network. Hoskinson argued that the proposed solution, known as BIP-361, is technically flawed and would require a hard fork, which would invalidate existing signature schemes. This, he believes, would be a significant issue, given the network's historical opposition to hard forks. Furthermore, Hoskinson pointed out that BIP-361's zero-knowledge proof recovery plan would not be able to rescue the roughly 1.7 million bitcoins that predate the introduction of BIP-39 in 2013, including the approximately 1 million coins associated with Satoshi's early mining activities. These early coins were generated using a different key derivation method and would remain permanently frozen if the proposal passes in its current form. Jameson Lopp, the core developer who co-authored BIP-361, has acknowledged that the proposal is not ideal and hopes it will never need to be adopted. Hoskinson's criticism extends beyond the technical aspects, arguing that Bitcoin's lack of formal on-chain governance hinders the network's ability to resolve tradeoffs through a structured process, leading to contentious upgrades being negotiated through developer mailing lists and social pressure.