Bitcoin Developers Bet on a 'Wait and React' Strategy Against Quantum Attacks

The Bitcoin community is considering a novel approach to counter potential quantum computing attacks, which involves waiting for an attacker to demonstrate their capabilities before taking action. This 'wait and react' strategy relies on a 'canary' system that would trigger a network-wide freeze of older wallets only if a quantum-capable attacker unlocks a special address, thereby proving the threat is real. The proposal is designed to replace earlier plans for a pre-scheduled freeze and is accompanied by a bounty system to incentivize attackers to reveal their capabilities rather than exploiting them for financial gain. However, this approach assumes that the first entity capable of breaking Bitcoin's security would claim the bounty instead of executing a potentially massive theft, which is a bet that cuts against the network's historical emphasis on preventing worst-case scenarios.