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 freeze 8 million coins in order to defend against quantum attacks. However, according to a video posted on his YouTube channel, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson believes this plan is still insufficient to protect the coins belonging to the network's creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. Hoskinson argues that the proposed solution, BIP-361, is both technically incorrect and structurally flawed, as it would require a hard fork due to its invalidation of existing signature schemes. He claims that this distinction is crucial, given Bitcoin's historical opposition to hard forks. Furthermore, Hoskinson asserts that the proposal's reliance on zero-knowledge proofs tied to BIP-39 seed phrases would be ineffective in rescuing approximately 1.7 million bitcoin that predate the introduction of BIP-39 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. Hoskinson's criticism extends beyond the technical aspects, arguing that Bitcoin's lack of formal on-chain governance hinders the network's ability to resolve these tradeoffs through a structured process.