Hoskinson Criticizes Bitcoin Quantum Protection Plan

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has sharply criticized a new Bitcoin Improvement Proposal aimed at shielding the cryptocurrency from future quantum computing attacks, arguing that it would fail to protect about 1.7 million bitcoins from early network days and require a contentious hard fork rather than the softer upgrade its authors describe.

The proposal, known as BIP 361 and submitted by Bitcoin developer Jameson Lopp and five coauthors, seeks to phase out legacy signature schemes vulnerable to quantum threats. These schemes, including ECDSA and Schnorr, underpin addresses holding an estimated 34 percent of Bitcoin's supply, or roughly 8 million coins worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Without intervention, experts warn that advanced quantum computers could crack the cryptography securing these funds, potentially allowing theft as early as the 2030s. Google's recent push to adopt post-quantum cryptography by 2029 underscores the growing urgency of such defenses.

BIP 361 outlines a three-phase rollout over several years. In Phase A, the network would block new transactions sending funds to vulnerable addresses. Phase B would go further by having nodes reject all...