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Samson Mow: Solutions to Combat Quantum Threats to Bitcoin Could Serve as a Trojan Horse, 2026/04/06 16:40:47
The hasty development of methods to counter the quantum threat could potentially create new risks for Bitcoin instead of providing protection, according to Jan3 founder Samson Mow.
Mow responded to the call from Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and the exchange’s security director Philip Martin for Bitcoin developers to expedite preparations against the threat posed by quantum computers capable of breaking the encryption of the leading cryptocurrency. Mow acknowledged that post-quantum solutions could safeguard Bitcoin from this threat, but they might also lead to compatibility issues among nodes and reduced network efficiency. This is due to a significant increase in the size of digital signatures, which would result in slower transactions and higher fees, the crypto entrepreneur indicated.
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“A rushed transition from ECDSA/Schnorr signatures to post-quantum signatures (PQ) could render Bitcoin vulnerable to classical attacks today. In simpler terms: securing Bitcoin against quantum computers only for it to be compromised by traditional computers. PQ signatures are likely to be 10 to 125 times larger than current ones, significantly decreasing the blockchain’s throughput. This could pave the way for a new block size war,” wrote Samson Mow.
The so-called “block size wars” in Bitcoin began in 2015 and peaked in 2017, when the community was divided over whether to increase Bitcoin’s block size to allow the network to handle more transactions. The disputes raised concerns about the decentralization and network security of Bitcoin, ultimately leading to the emergence of alternative scaling solutions like the Lightning Network.
“Proposed solutions based on quantum computing could serve as a Trojan horse for introducing backdoors into random number generators or quantum-based encryption schemes. Given that the threats from quantum computers may not materialize for another 10 to 20 years, the worst-case scenario would be the hasty implementation of solutions. However, this does not imply that preparations for these threats should not be made,” explained the Jan3 founder.
Recent estimates from Google analysts suggest that quantum computers may require fewer than 500,000 qubits to successfully attack the Bitcoin network, rather than several million as previously thought. Analysts from Ark Invest and Unchained have calculated that approximately 5 million BTC remain potentially vulnerable to quantum attacks.
