Bitcoin's quantum dilemma: consensus, not code, may be the bottleneck

The debate over how Bitcoin should respond if quantum computers can break its cryptography has reignited. CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju argued that a real upgrade to resist quantum attacks would likely require freezing roughly 1 million BTC tied to Satoshi and millions more in long-dormant addresses, noting some 3.4 million coins have not moved in over a decade and that the stash represents hundreds of billions of dollars at current prices.

Ju warned that Bitcoin’s security model assumes attacks remain economically unfeasible, and a quantum breakthrough would change that calculation. He stressed, however, that the bigger challenge is social: past disputes such as the block size fight and the failed SegWit2x proposal show that reaching community-wide agreement on protocol-level interventions is slow and contentious, and might never happen cleanly, increasing the risk of competing forks.

Responses were mixed.

bitcoin, quantum computers, cryptography, cryptoquant, satoshi, dormant coins, 3.4 million, consensus, segwit2x, forks