Advocates claim that freezing dormant bitcoin, currently valued at $78,790.57, would trigger immediate repricing and potentially mark one of the cryptocurrency's worst trading days since its launch in 2009. This debate has been ongoing among bitcoin developers and industry participants, who are weighing the risks of theft through quantum computing against the potential consequences of freezing tokens.
Samuel 'Chad' Patt, founder of Op Net, argues that freezing any coins, including 'lost' ones, would set a precedent that could impact the market's perception of the remaining 19.8 million BTC in circulation. He believes that institutional risk desks would be more concerned with the precedent than the reason behind the freeze. In contrast, market analyst Jason Fernandes, a self-described pragmatic maximalist, thinks that a successful quantum attack would have more severe repercussions.
Fernandes notes that institutions would not only price the precedent but also consider whether the system can survive a break in its core assumptions. Other maximalists, such as Mati Greenspan and Kent Halliburton, share similar concerns, with Greenspan stating that if quantum computers were to crack early Bitcoin wallets, it would trigger the largest bug bounty in human history rather than a rollback or freeze.
The debate follows discussions over how to respond to the potential threat quantum computing poses to the bitcoin network, particularly the estimated 5.6 million BTC held in dormant wallets. A proposal, Bitcoin Improvement Proposal 361 (BIP-361), has been released, which contemplates phasing out bitcoin's current cryptographic signatures and potentially freezing assets that fail to migrate. However, some maximalists, including Khushboo Khullar, argue that freezing dormant coins is a deeply flawed approach that undermines Bitcoin's core principles of immutability, permissionlessness, and no central enforcement.
Others, like Ken Kruger, believe that Lopp's proposal is sensible, given the challenges of building future-proof systems. Ultimately, the decision to freeze or not freeze dormant bitcoin has significant implications for the network's core value proposition and its ability to withstand quantum threats.