- A researcher has proposed a quantum-safe Bitcoin transaction scheme that works without changing the Bitcoin protocol.
- The method replaces vulnerable elliptic curve signatures with a brute-force “hash-to-sig” puzzle, which is costly at between $75 and $150 per transaction.
- The community is split on solutions, with concerns about dormant wallets and a preference for long-term protocol changes.
A Bitcoin researcher from StarkWare, Avihu Levy, published a proposal on Thursday for a Quantum Safe Bitcoin (QSB) transaction scheme, which he said would remain secure even against an adversary with a quantum computer. However, the proposal comes with significant caveats and costs, making it a temporary, last-resort measure.
The scheme’s main feature replaces the proof-of-work signature puzzle with a hash-to-sig puzzle. Consequently, instead of relying on elliptic curve math, the spender must perform brute-force work that even a quantum computer cannot shortcut.
The proposal is not practical for everyday use, costing between $75 and $150 per transaction in GPU compute. StarkWare CEO Eli Ben-Sasson said “This is huge,” claiming it makes Bitcoin quantum-safe today.
However, Bitcoin ESG specialist Daniel Batten said it was “an overstatement” because exposed public keys and dormant wallets are not addressed. An estimated 1.7 million BTC are locked in early addresses vulnerable to a quantum attack.
Protocol-level changes remain the preferred long-term solution for the community. Meanwhile, Lightning Labs chief technology officer Olaoluwa Osuntokun on Wednesday published a quantum “escape hatch” prototype as an alternative authorization method.
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