Bitcoin Protection from Quantum Attacks: New Proposal from Developers
Date: 2025-07-17 Author: Oliver Abernathy Categories: CRYPTO PAYMENTS
Casa CTO and co-founder Jameson Lopp, along with a group of five developers, have proposed changes to the Bitcoin blockchain aimed at strengthening its protection against possible quantum attacks. The co-authors include Christian Papathanasiou, Ian Smith, Joe Ross, Steve Weil, and Pierre-Luc Dallaire-Demers. Their idea is to create incentives for users to switch to new types of addresses that provide cryptographic protection that is not subject to quantum computing.
According to the authors, failure to update addresses threatens to lose access to funds, since quantum computers can potentially crack private keys of crypto wallets. Experts are increasingly warning that over the next decade, quantum technologies may become a tool for hackers, allowing them to hack even “sleeping” and long-forgotten wallets. As a result, there could be widespread fraud and a drop in the BTC price due to a massive sell-off of stolen assets.
The draft changes mention BIP 360, an update developed by Anduro engineer Hunter Beast. This BIP proposes the use of post-quantum cryptography for new types of Bitcoin addresses, providing different levels of security. In May, Lopp noted that the implementation of such signature schemes could lead to discussions about increasing the volume of data and throughput of the blockchain.
All proposals receive a BIP number and are published in the Bitcoin Core repository on GitHub, where they are discussed and refined by the community. The implementation process requires consensus and is often slow. In addition, the development team has presented other initiatives to improve the resilience of Bitcoin. For example, Michael Casey, director of engineering at Marathon, proposed limiting the speed of transactions from outdated addresses that could become vulnerable in the future.
Thus, the Bitcoin community is gradually preparing for the challenges of the quantum era, offering technological solutions that will help maintain the security and stability of the network in the context of the development of new computing technologies.
