Changpeng Zhao proposes "freezing" Satoshi's bitcoins: a preventive defense against the quantum threat
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) has proposed a radical initiative that could change the rules of the game for the entire Bitcoin ecosystem. He suggests giving the cryptocurrency's creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, exactly 12 months to move their coins to secure wallets. If the funds remain untouched, they should be "frozen" forever.
Quantum Time Bomb
The essence of Zhao's initiative is not an attack on the creator's anonymity, but a preventive defense against the looming quantum threat. In his view, if no action is taken now, once quantum computing reaches a certain power threshold, Satoshi's coins will become easy prey for hackers. Inaction, in effect, means these assets will be "gifted" to whoever first cracks the old cryptographic schemes.
This concerns wallets from Bitcoin's early period that use the Pay-To-Public-Key (P2PK) format. This format fully exposes the public key, making it vulnerable to attacks using Shor's algorithm. These wallets, including, presumably, those of Satoshi himself, are at the highest risk.
A Year to Save: CZ's Plan
Zhao's proposal boils down to this: a one-year deadline should be set for owners of inactive P2PK wallets to move their funds to more modern and secure addresses (e.g., SegWit or Taproot). If the coins remain unmoved after this period, the community should decide to "freeze" them—effectively removing them from circulation. As a result, according to Zhao's calculations, only about 20 million coins would remain in the new protocol, with the rest permanently locked.
Not the First Attempt: Echoes from 2024
Interestingly, a similar idea was previously put forward by Ava Labs CEO Emin Gün Sirer. He also pointed out the vulnerability of the P2PK format and suggested considering "freezing" Satoshi's coins as one protection option. Sirer noted that while quantum computing poses a serious threat to old schemes, it has a limited "window of opportunity" for attack, making protection achievable.
Analyst's comment: Changpeng Zhao's initiative is not just a technical discussion but a signal of the beginning of a new era in risk management for Bitcoin. The very idea of "freezing" Satoshi's coins is highly controversial and contradicts the fundamental principle of blockchain immutability. However, it raises a critically important question: is the community ready to sacrifice part of its ideology to protect against a future, yet very real, threat? For now, this is just a debate, but its outcome may determine how BTC security evolves in the era of quantum computing.