Developer Jameson Lopp proposed a method to safeguard Bitcoin against quantum attacks., 2026/04/15 15:24:39

A group of Bitcoin developers led by Jameson Lopp has introduced a new network improvement proposal for the first cryptocurrency (BIP-361). This proposal involves freezing 1.7 million BTC that may be vulnerable to quantum attacks.

The focus is on bitcoins stored in outdated P2PK (Pay-to-Public-Key) crypto addresses, whose public keys are visible on the blockchain—malicious actors could theoretically compute the corresponding private key. This includes 1 million BTC mined by Bitcoin’s anonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, during the initial years of the network’s existence. The aim of BIP-361 is to freeze these coins to prevent their theft in the future when quantum computers become powerful enough to crack Bitcoin’s algorithms.

Lopp suggested implementing the freeze in two phases. First, outdated addresses would be separated from the decentralized Bitcoin ecosystem, preventing new BTC from being sent to them, followed by the freezing of the addresses themselves, including Nakamoto’s wallets. This approach is intended to safeguard the funds stored there, according to the developer. Coin holders will be able to unfreeze their bitcoins using seed phrases, thereby proving ownership in a traditional manner.

“An attack on Bitcoin may not stem from economic motives but could be politically driven or malicious—where an attacker aims to undermine Bitcoin’s value and trust rather than seeking profit. It is impossible to predict how, when, and why an attack will occur. It is better to adopt a defensive stance in advance,” Lopp emphasizes.

Recently, Nic Carter, a partner at Castle Island Ventures, urged Bitcoin developers to expedite efforts to enhance the network’s resilience against quantum threats, warning that the Bitcoin blockchain could fall behind Ethereum. Analysts at Bernstein estimate that the risks of quantum hacking of Bitcoin are already factored into the current BTC price.