Jameson Lopp: Against Allowing Quantum Recovery of Bitcoin

[Stompix]

I think those Satoshi's addresses should all be freeze for good, in the protocol level.
They are too dangerous. Imagine if someday someone might be able to hack one of them and claim to be satoshi.
We have already too many volatility and confusion in this ecossystem....

Yeah, let's just freeze (steal) the coins of the guy that said this:

Banks must be trusted to hold our money and transfer it electronically, but they lend it out in waves of credit bubbles with barely a fraction in reserve. We have to trust them with our privacy, trust them not to let identity thieves drain our accounts.

Data could be secured in a way that was physically impossible for others to access, no matter for what reason, no matter how good the excuse, no matter what.

Yeah, let's take a dump on Bitcoin's whitepaper, .... because reasons. 

[TomPluz]

I just read all the replies in this post since honestly how Quantum Computing can "hack" Bitcoin and addresses can be something beyond my comprehension. In conclusion, there seems to be no conclusion on what can be the best option to deal with the possible future problem so maybe the "do nothing" option will eventually come to haunt us later. However, it is good at this early stage, there is already a healthy discussion on this matter so that maybe a solid solution can be found in the right time, something that can be acceptable to most of us in the cryptocurrency industry.

[Stuart]

Against Allowing Quantum Recovery of Bitcoin
An argument in favor of burning bitcoin in vulnerable addresses to prevent funds from being taken by those who win the quantum computing race.

The quantum computing debate is heating up. There are many controversial aspects to this debate, including whether or not quantum computers will ever actually become a practical threat. If you want a high level overview of the technical issues, check out my presentation from 2024: https://youtu.be/MTUzpR_mxAg. Read more here.


When people about this topic (quantum computer and vulnerable Bitcoin address), usually these are are 3 option frequently mentioned.
1. Do nothing.
2. Freeze all "vulnerable" address.
3. Redistribute Bitcoin on "vulnerable" address, before someone use Quantum computer to steal it.

Personally i prefer option 1, but Jameson Lopp write detailed and interesting argument regarding option 2. What do you all think?

In option 3, how will it be possible to Redistribute Bitcoin on vulnerable address, are we going to find anyone or people that are sincere that will do the distribution and to what address will it be distributed to? The price of Bitcoin is getting more and more expensive, Freezing those vulnerable address will be the best option, to take, but no one for now will be able to tell how much things the Quantum Computing will be able to do.

On both sides, in a matter of time, the Quantum Computing will be used for both good and bad, as we are in a world of competition and who holds the power of leadership.

[ABCbits]

In option 3, how will it be possible to Redistribute Bitcoin on vulnerable address, are we going to find anyone or people that are sincere that will do the distribution and to what address will it be distributed to?
--snip--

From what i've seen, people usually suggest it's done by changing Bitcoin protocol rather than hoping someone (who have Quantum Computer) to do it manually. For example,
1. Sending all Bitcoin from "vulnerable" address to non "vulnerable" address.
2. Let miner claim specific amount of Bitcoin from "vulnerable" address on each block.

[Stompix]

I just read all the replies in this post since honestly how Quantum Computing can "hack" Bitcoin and addresses can be something beyond my comprehension.

Quantum computers can deal with huge numbers even better than Trump and because they deal with non-linear calculations, they can use the Shor alghorythm, which is basically a way to detect large prime numbers, and keys are made out of large prime numbers, but explaining it as simply as possible is that
- Your average person can do the math for 10x10 in a second
- Your normal computer has no trouble with 123456789x123456789
- Your quantum computer has no trouble extracting the  root from \(\sqrt[4]{1524157<insert ton of numebrs here 8750190521}\)  in still a single line

Since RSA is using large prime numbers for encryption any algorithm that can deal with factorization at that scale could easily deal with the basic RSA encryption, as long as the process is stable for enough time.

The price of Bitcoin is getting more and more expensive, Freezing those vulnerable address will be the best option, to take, but no one for now will be able to tell how much things the Quantum Computing will be able to do.

And this doesn't remind you even a bit about banning people from exchanging their currency to dollars to keep the value of the said currency afloat or bank runs