Charles Hoskinson Claims Bitcoin's Quantum Solution is a Hard Fork that Fails to Protect Satoshi's Coins

Earlier this week, Bitcoin's core developers proposed a plan to protect 8 million coins from quantum attacks. However, Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano, believes this plan is insufficient to safeguard the coins belonging to Satoshi Nakamoto, the network's pseudonymous creator. In a video posted on his YouTube channel, Hoskinson argued that the proposed solution, BIP-361, is mislabeled as a soft fork and would actually require a hard fork, as it would invalidate existing signature schemes. He stated that the plan's reliance on zero-knowledge proofs tied to BIP-39 seed phrases would not be able to recover approximately 1.7 million bitcoins created before 2013, including those associated with Satoshi's early mining activity. Hoskinson's critique extends beyond the technical aspects, arguing that Bitcoin's lack of on-chain governance hinders the network's ability to resolve tradeoffs through a structured process, leading to contentious upgrades being negotiated through developer mailing lists and social pressure.