Bitcoin developers have presented a comprehensive strategy to counter potential quantum threats, which involves a phased freezing of addresses with outdated cryptography. This initiative may affect coins belonging to Satoshi Nakamoto and other early miners, and it aims to complete the transition to quantum-resistant formats by 2032.
This is reported by Business • Media
Phased Transition to New Security Standards
A group of bitcoin developers led by programmer Jameson Lopp has proposed a mechanism to protect the network from potential risks associated with the development of quantum computers. According to the project, a transition from ECDSA/Schnorr to new quantum-resistant signature formats is planned over nine years. The proposed strategy consists of three main stages:
- a ban on sending funds to addresses vulnerable to quantum attacks;
- declaring old signatures invalid;
- developing a mechanism for regaining access to addresses by proving ownership of the seed phrase.
A nine-year transition period is planned for the implementation of this proposal from the moment of its official adoption.
Threat to “Old” Bitcoins and Community Reaction
According to developers’ estimates, approximately a quarter of all bitcoins are held in addresses whose public keys have already been published on the blockchain — this occurs every time users spend funds from their wallets. Such data remains on the network permanently and can be used to calculate private keys if quantum computers achieve sufficient computational power. Particularly vulnerable are 1.1 million BTC in early addresses, likely belonging to Satoshi Nakamoto.
“Quantum attackers can compute the private key from known keys and then transfer all funds within weeks or months, secretly moving them to avoid attracting the attention of blockchain analysts,” the proposal project states.
Although quantum computers currently do not pose a real threat to the bitcoin network, researchers warn that a breakthrough in this field could happen as early as 2027. In the event of a successful attack, the security of the entire system would be at risk, and users and miners could lose their assets.
Jameson Lopp emphasizes that a gradual transition is the optimal way to ensure the protection of bitcoin without creating panic among users and without disrupting the existing consensus within the community. At the same time, the proposal is still in draft form and has not yet received official BIP status.
Additional concerns are raised by recent activity on old addresses: in July 2025, over $8.7 billion in bitcoins was transferred from eight early wallets. Analysts believe this may indicate the beginning of a voluntary migration of owners to safer storage formats.