Cardano Founder Disputes Bitcoin's Quantum Solution, Claims It Won't Rescue Satoshi's Coins

Following a proposal by Bitcoin's core developers to freeze 8 million coins as a defense against quantum attacks, Cardano's Charles Hoskinson expressed his doubts about the plan's ability to protect Satoshi Nakamoto's coins in a video posted on his YouTube channel. Hoskinson believes that the proposed solution, BIP-361, is technically flawed and would require a hard fork, contrary to its presentation as a soft fork. He argues that this approach would invalidate existing signature schemes and is therefore unlikely to succeed. Furthermore, Hoskinson claims that the proposal's zero-knowledge recovery plan is insufficient to rescue the roughly 1.7 million pre-2013 bitcoins, including those attributed to Satoshi, due to their use of an outdated key derivation method. This method, used in the original Bitcoin wallet software, relies on a local key pool rather than a deterministic seed, making it incompatible with the proposed recovery plan. As a result, these coins would remain permanently frozen even if the proposal is adopted. Hoskinson's criticism extends beyond the technical aspects, highlighting the need for formal on-chain governance in Bitcoin to facilitate more structured decision-making processes.