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

Recently, Bitcoin's core developers have proposed a solution to defend against quantum attacks by freezing 8 million coins. However, Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano, believes this solution is still insufficient to protect the coins belonging to the network's creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. In a video, Hoskinson argued that the proposed defense, BIP-361, is mislabeled as a soft fork and would actually require a hard fork due to its impact on existing signature schemes. This distinction is crucial, as Bitcoin's development culture has traditionally opposed hard forks. The BIP-361 proposal suggests using zero-knowledge proofs tied to BIP-39 seed phrases to reclaim frozen funds, but Hoskinson claims this approach will not work for approximately 1.7 million Bitcoin generated before 2013, including those associated with Satoshi. These early coins were created using a different key derivation method and would remain permanently frozen if the proposal passes. Jameson Lopp, the core developer behind BIP-361, has acknowledged the proposal's limitations, describing it as a rough idea for a contingency plan. 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.