Changpeng Zhao proposes freezing Satoshi's bitcoins: a preventive defense against the quantum threat
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao has put forward a radical proposal concerning the future of Bitcoin security. He believes the community needs to give Bitcoin's creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, 12 months to move his coins before a potential quantum upgrade to the network. If the funds remain untouched within this period, they should be frozen permanently.
Quantum Threat and Legacy Wallets
At the core of the initiative lies a very real technical problem. It concerns Bitcoin wallets from the early period that use the Pay-To-Public-Key (P2PK) format. This format fully exposes the public key, making it extremely vulnerable in the face of advancing quantum computing. The traditional encryption methods underpinning the security of old coins could be cracked once quantum computers reach the necessary power.
According to Zhao, inaction on this issue is extremely dangerous. If nothing is done, with the emergence of sufficiently powerful quantum systems, these coins would effectively go to whoever can crack them. The one-year "grace period" he proposes is a chance for owners of inactive funds to transfer them to more secure formats. If this does not happen, freezing would become the only way to prevent a mass seizure of assets by malicious actors.
Precedent and Prospects
Notably, Zhao is not the first to voice this idea. A similar proposal was previously put forward by Ava Labs CEO Emin Gün Sirer. He also pointed out the vulnerability of P2PK wallets and emphasized that quantum computing, while not solving all problems instantly, creates a narrow "window of opportunity" for attacks specifically on such outdated formats.
Sirer noted that modern wallets and networks, such as Avalanche, do not use P2PK, but in the early days of Bitcoin, this format was the standard. Therefore, in his view, when the quantum threat becomes a reality, the community will have to consider either freezing Satoshi's coins or setting a final deadline for transferring all funds from the P2PK format.
Cryptalist Analysis: This discussion marks an important shift in the thinking of the crypto community. We are moving from hypothetical discussions about the quantum threat to quite concrete, albeit radical, action plans. Freezing Satoshi's Bitcoins is not just a technical solution, but a profound philosophical question that would challenge the principle of immutability and non-seizability of assets, which is foundational to Bitcoin. However, it seems that the fear of potential asset expropriation by quantum hackers is beginning to outweigh ideological dogmas. We are watching developments: this topic will become one of the hottest in the coming years.