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

In response to Bitcoin's core developers proposing to freeze 8 million coins to defend against quantum attacks, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson expressed his skepticism about the plan's ability to protect Satoshi Nakamoto's coins in a recent YouTube video. Hoskinson believes that the proposed solution, BIP-361, is both technically mislabeled and structurally incapable of safeguarding the network's oldest coins. He argues that the proposal, which aims to phase out quantum-vulnerable bitcoin addresses, would require a hard fork due to its invalidation of existing signature schemes. This distinction is crucial, as Bitcoin's development culture has historically opposed hard forks. Furthermore, Hoskinson claims that the proposed zero-knowledge proof recovery plan is unable to rescue approximately 1.7 million pre-2013 bitcoins, including those attributed to Satoshi Nakamoto, as they were generated using a different key derivation method. The Cardano founder's criticism extends beyond the technical aspects, highlighting Bitcoin's lack of formal on-chain governance as a significant issue in resolving tradeoffs and negotiating upgrades.