Cardano Founder Claims Bitcoin's Quantum Solution is a Hard Fork that Won't Save Early Coins

Earlier this week, Bitcoin's core developers suggested freezing 8 million coins to protect against quantum attacks. However, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson believes this solution is still inadequate to safeguard coins belonging to the network's creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. In a video posted on his YouTube channel, Hoskinson argued that Bitcoin's proposed defense against quantum computers is both technically mislabeled and structurally incapable of protecting the network's oldest coins. He claimed that the proposal, BIP-361, would require a hard fork because it invalidates existing signature schemes that users are actively relying on. Hoskinson stated that this approach cannot rescue approximately 1.7 million bitcoin that predate 2013, including those associated with Satoshi's early mining activity, as they were generated using a different key derivation method. If the proposal passes in its current form, those coins would remain permanently frozen. Hoskinson's critique extends beyond the technical details, arguing that Bitcoin's lack of formal on-chain governance leaves the network unable to resolve these tradeoffs through a structured process.