CryptoQuant founder Ki Young Ju says a future quantum computing breakthrough could force Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) into a difficult choice: upgrade aggressively — or risk large amounts of BTC being stolen.
Quantum Attack Or Coin Freezing?
Ki Young Ju argues that freezing vulnerable coins, including roughly 1 million BTC attributed to Satoshi Nakamoto, may ultimately be the safest path if quantum threats become real.
Bitcoin’s current security relies on classical cryptography (ECDSA), which is effectively unbreakable with today’s computing power.
However, sufficiently advanced quantum computers could theoretically derive private keys from exposed public keys.
Once a public key has been revealed on-chain (such as after a transaction is made), that vulnerability would remain permanent under quantum-capable systems.
Estimates suggest approximately 6.89 million BTC could be quantum-vulnerable, including around 3.4 million coins dormant for over a decade.
The Bigger Risk: Economic Incentives
If quantum attacks ever become cheap and practical, Bitcoin’s long-standing assumption, that attacks are economically unviable, would collapse.
Dormant coins worth hundreds of billions of dollars would become irresistible targets. This could force the network to adopt quantum-resistant cryptography.
However, such an upgrade might require freezing legacy address formats by design, meaning coins that fail to migrate to new quantum-secure addresses could become permanently un-spendable.
The Real Challenge: Social Consensus
The greater hurdle may not be technical, but social.
Bitcoin’s history, including the block size wars and the failed SegWit2x proposal, demonstrates how difficult it is to achieve network-wide consensus on major protocol changes.
Freezing dormant coins, particularly those believed to belong to Satoshi, would challenge Bitcoin’s core principles of immutability and property rights. Such a move could spark intense division or even lead to a chain split.
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