Charles Hoskinson Criticizes Bitcoin's Quantum Solution as Insufficient to Protect Satoshi's Holdings

Recently, Bitcoin's core developers suggested a plan to protect against quantum attacks by freezing a significant number of coins. However, Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano, expressed his disagreement with this proposal in a video, stating that it would not be able to safeguard the coins belonging to the network's creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. Hoskinson argued that the proposed solution, known as BIP-361, is technically flawed and would require a hard fork, which is a significant change to the network's protocol. He claimed that the proposal's authors are misleadingly presenting it as a soft fork, which would be a less invasive update. A hard fork would invalidate existing signature schemes, making it a more complex and potentially disruptive change. Hoskinson also pointed out that the proposal's reliance on zero-knowledge proofs tied to BIP-39 seed phrases would not be able to rescue approximately 1.7 million bitcoin that were created before 2013, including those associated with Satoshi's early mining activity. These early coins were generated using a different key derivation method and would remain permanently frozen if the proposal is implemented. Jameson Lopp, one of the core developers behind BIP-361, has acknowledged that the proposal is not ideal and hopes it will not be necessary. Hoskinson's criticism extends beyond the technical aspects, arguing that Bitcoin's lack of formal on-chain governance makes it difficult to resolve such tradeoffs through a structured process.