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

Earlier this week, Bitcoin's core developers proposed a solution to defend against quantum attackers by freezing 8 million coins. However, according to Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson, this solution is still insufficient to protect the network's oldest coins, including those attributed to Satoshi Nakamoto. Hoskinson believes that the proposed defense, known as BIP-361, is mislabeled as a soft fork and would actually require a hard fork, as it would invalidate existing signature schemes. A hard fork is a change to the rules of the network that would make old software incompatible, whereas a soft fork is a change that tightens the rules but still allows old software to function. The BIP-361 proposal suggests that users with frozen funds could reclaim them by creating a zero-knowledge proof tied to their BIP-39 seed phrase. Nevertheless, Hoskinson argues that this approach cannot rescue the approximately 1.7 million bitcoin that predate BIP-39's introduction in 2013, including the roughly 1 million coins 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 passes in its current form. Jameson Lopp, the core developer who co-authored BIP-361, has also expressed his dislike for the proposal, describing it as a rough idea for a contingency plan rather than a finalized specification. Hoskinson's critique extends beyond the technical details, arguing that Bitcoin's lack of formal on-chain governance leaves the network unable to resolve tradeoffs through a structured process, forcing contentious upgrades to be negotiated through developer mailing lists and social pressure.