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

Following a proposal by Bitcoin's core developers to freeze 8 million coins in defense against quantum attacks, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson expressed his skepticism about the plan's ability to protect Satoshi Nakamoto's coins in a video posted on his YouTube channel. Hoskinson argues that the proposed solution, BIP-361, is mislabeled as a soft fork and would actually require a hard fork due to its invalidation of existing signature schemes. He emphasizes that this distinction is crucial, given Bitcoin's historical opposition to hard forks. Furthermore, Hoskinson claims that BIP-361's zero-knowledge recovery plan is ineffective for approximately 1.7 million pre-2013 bitcoins, including those attributed to Satoshi Nakamoto, as they were generated using a different key derivation method. This would render these coins permanently frozen, even if their owners attempt to migrate. Hoskinson's criticism extends beyond the technical aspects, highlighting the limitations of Bitcoin's governance structure in resolving such tradeoffs. He believes that the lack of formal on-chain governance hinders the network's ability to address these issues through a structured process, instead relying on developer mailing lists and social pressure.