Cardano Founder Disputes Bitcoin's Quantum Solution, Claims It Won't Protect Satoshi's Coins

Cardano's founder, Charles Hoskinson, has expressed his concerns over Bitcoin's proposed defense against quantum computers, stating that it is technically mislabeled and incapable of safeguarding the network's oldest coins. According to Hoskinson, the proposal, BIP-361, is being misrepresented as a soft fork when it would, in fact, require a hard fork due to its invalidation of existing signature schemes. This distinction is crucial, given Bitcoin's historical opposition to hard forks. Hoskinson also argues that the proposal's zero-knowledge recovery plan is flawed and cannot recover roughly 1.7 million pre-2013 bitcoins, including those associated with Satoshi Nakamoto, as these coins were generated using a different key derivation method. The proposal's authors, including Jameson Lopp, have described it as a contingency plan rather than a finalized specification, with Lopp acknowledging that freezing dormant coins might be preferable to allowing a future quantum attacker to recover and dump them on the market. Hoskinson's critique extends beyond the technical aspects, highlighting Bitcoin's lack of formal on-chain governance as a significant issue in resolving tradeoffs and negotiating contentious upgrades.