TechFlow reports that on June 13, a cryptography expert advisory committee led by Coinbase released a report stating Bitcoin should immediately begin preparing for potential quantum-computing attacks. However, the committee did not take a definitive stance on whether millions of Bitcoins potentially vulnerable to quantum-computing theft should be frozen.
The committee includes several leading experts, such as Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake. They argue that the current debate is not about how to introduce quantum-resistant signature schemes, but rather how to handle Bitcoins that remain unmigrated over the long term. One camp advocates setting a final deadline, after which Bitcoin’s existing ECDSA and Schnorr signature schemes would no longer be supported, and unmigrated assets would be frozen—aiming to prevent future quantum attackers from acquiring large quantities of BTC and destabilizing markets. The other camp contends such a freeze would effectively constitute asset confiscation, contradicting Bitcoin’s core principles of immutability and users’ full control over their assets, and could set a precedent for freezing assets under regulatory pressure in the future.
Coinbase’s advisory committee notes that these proposals are not mutually exclusive and could be combined. Yet it declines to state a position on whether legacy BTC should be frozen, asserting that the ultimate decision rests with Bitcoin’s community governance. It emphasizes two points: first, technical development of quantum-resistant signature migration must begin immediately—not wait for governance debates to conclude; second, users must be clearly informed about the risks to avoid prolonged uncertainty harming the Bitcoin ecosystem.
