Adam Back Proposes Bitcoin's Quantum-Safe Upgrade Should Be Optional, Not Mandatory

BlockBeats News, April 16th: According to Decrypt, Blockstream CEO Adam Back advocated for introducing quantum resistance to Bitcoin in an opt-in upgrade approach during the Paris Blockchain Week on Wednesday, diverging from the previously proposed mandatory freeze solution. Adam Back stated: "Being prepared in advance is crucial to drive changes in a controlled manner, rather than hastily responding to security in a crisis." He also emphasized that Bitcoin already has emergency coordination capabilities: "Vulnerabilities have been identified and fixed within hours in the past. Once things become urgent, attention will be focused, and consensus will follow."

Adam Back's stance contrasts with BIP-361. The proposal, drafted jointly by Jameson Lopp and five other developers, was updated on April 15th in the Bitcoin Core repository with the theme "Post-Quantum Migration and Deprecation of Legacy Signatures." The plan is to gradually phase out quantum-vulnerable addresses over five years through a soft fork, ultimately freezing assets that have not completed the migration, including the bitcoins held by Satoshi Nakamoto.

The progress of quantum computing has accelerated this debate. Last month, Google's quantum AI research suggested that a quantum computer could break elliptic curve encryption with fewer than 1,200 logical qubits. Their superconducting qubit system would require fewer than 500,000 physical qubits to break Bitcoin's encryption in minutes, a reduction of about 20 times from previous estimates. Researchers estimated that about 6.9 million BTC are at risk of quantum attacks, including around 1.7 million coins from the early days of mining rewards. Additionally, on the same day, BitMEX Research proposed another mitigation solution, suggesting the establishment of a "Canary Fund" consisting of quantum-vulnerable coins, triggering a comprehensive freeze only when transfers occur from addresses in that fund.