A newly drafted proposal aims to safeguard Bitcoin against the potential threat of quantum computers by freezing coins secured by outdated cryptography, including those held in Satoshi Nakamoto's wallets, to prevent them from being compromised. This proposal, co-authored by Jameson Lopp and other cryptocurrency security experts, outlines a phased soft fork that would essentially create a deadline for users to upgrade, beyond which their coins would become unusable.
The proposal specifically targets the approximately 1.1 million Bitcoins tied to early pay-to-pubkey addresses, such as those belonging to Satoshi and other early miners. The authors of the proposal emphasize that the threat posed by quantum computing is unprecedented in Bitcoin's history, stating that a successful quantum attack could lead to significant economic disruption and damage across the entire ecosystem, potentially impacting the ability of miners to provide network security.
The proposed plan consists of three phases: Phase A, which involves banning the transfer of funds to legacy ECDSA/Schnorr addresses, encouraging users to adopt quantum-resistant formats like P2QRH, starting three years after the implementation of BIP-360; Phase B, which renders all legacy signatures invalid at the consensus layer, resulting in the permanent freezing of coins in quantum-vulnerable addresses, kicking in two years after Phase A; and Phase C, an optional phase that introduces a recovery path for stuck coins using zero-knowledge proof of BIP-39 seed possession, which could be implemented as either a hard or soft fork. The motivation behind this proposal stems from the fact that researchers predict quantum computers capable of breaking ECDSA may emerge as early as 2027. A recent study highlighted that breaking RSA encryption with quantum computers may require significantly fewer resources than previously thought, and although Bitcoin utilizes elliptic curve cryptography, it remains susceptible to quantum attacks. The proposal is still in its draft stage and lacks a BIP number, but it may be crucial for Bitcoin's survival in a future where quantum computing becomes a reality.