Changpeng Zhao proposes "freezing" Satoshi Nakamoto's bitcoins: protection against quantum threat
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) has proposed a radical initiative that could change the fundamental principles of Bitcoin. His proposal concerns coins allegedly belonging to Satoshi Nakamoto himself. CZ believes the community should give the BTC creator 12 months to move their funds. If the coins are not moved within that timeframe, they should be frozen forever.
Quantum Vulnerability of Old Wallets
At the core of this proposal is not a desire to rewrite history, but a very specific technological threat. CZ warns that inaction on this issue is deadly for the network. Once quantum computing reaches a certain power threshold, the coins in early wallets—primarily those using the P2PK (Pay-To-Public-Key) format—will become easy prey for attackers. Essentially, they will go to whoever cracks the old cryptography first.
The idea is simple: give owners of inactive coins a "window of opportunity" to transfer funds to more secure addresses. If they don't show up within a year, the network will simply block those UTXOs. According to CZ's estimates, only about 20 million BTC would remain in circulation after such a "cleaning," as the rest would be frozen.
Precedent and Expert Opinion
Notably, a similar idea was voiced back in 2024 by Ava Labs CEO Emin Gün Sirer. He also pointed out the vulnerability of the P2PK format, which fully exposes the public key. This makes such coins particularly susceptible to quantum factoring. Sirer, however, was more cautious in his assessments, noting that a quantum attacker has only a small "window of opportunity," which complicates the task.
Nevertheless, both experts agree on the main point: sooner or later, the quantum threat will become a reality. Modern wallets and networks (like Avalanche) use more reliable signature schemes, but early Bitcoins remain a "time bomb." CZ's proposal is not just conspiracy theory, but a pragmatic view of the future of BTC security.
My comment: The idea of freezing Satoshi's coins is a ticking time bomb for Bitcoin's philosophy. On one hand, it is a logical measure for the network's self-preservation. On the other, it is a first step toward centralized control of the supply, which contradicts the original code. If the community goes along with this, a precedent will be set, and other "inconvenient" assets could be subject to "freezing" in the future.