BlockBeats news, on April 16, according to Decrypt, Blockstream CEO Adam Back advocated on Wednesday at the Paris Blockchain Week for introducing quantum resistance to Bitcoin through an optional upgrade, diverging from earlier proposals by developers that called for mandatory freezes. Adam Back stated: “It’s crucial to prepare in advance and implement changes in a controlled manner, far preferable to reacting hastily during a crisis.” He also emphasized that Bitcoin already has the capacity for emergency coordination: “Vulnerabilities have been identified and patched within hours; when urgency arises, focus intensifies and consensus naturally follows.”
Adam Back’s position contrasts with BIP-361. The proposal, co-drafted by Jameson Lopp and five other developers, was updated on April 15 under the title “Post-Quantum Migration and Deprecation of Traditional Signatures” in the Bitcoin codebase, aiming to phase out quantum-vulnerable addresses over five years via a soft fork, ultimately freezing assets that have not completed migration—including those held by Satoshi Nakamoto.
Advancements in quantum computing have accelerated this debate. Last month, Google Quantum AI released research suggesting that quantum computers could break elliptic curve cryptography with fewer than 1,200 logical qubits; their superconducting qubit system would require fewer than 500,000 physical qubits to crack Bitcoin’s encryption in just minutes—about 20 times faster than previous estimates. Researchers estimate that approximately 6.9 million BTC are at risk from quantum attacks, including around 1.7 million BTC in mining rewards from Satoshi’s era. Additionally, BitMEX Research released an alternative mitigation strategy on the same day, proposing the creation of a “canary fund” composed of quantum-vulnerable assets, which would trigger a full freeze only if a transfer occurs from the fund’s address.