Bitcoin Developer Proposes Big Changes to Protect BTC from Quantum Threats in the Future

Bitcoin Developer Proposes Hard Fork to Protect BTC from Quantum Computing Risks

The proposal outlines a plan to migrate BTC from traditional wallets to wallets secured by post-quantum cryptography.

Francisco Rodriguez | Edited by Aoyon Ashraf April 5, 2025, 5:00 PM

What to consider:

• The Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) proposes a network-wide transition to post-quantum cryptography for BTC wallets.
• This proposal is aimed at protecting Bitcoin from possible quantum attacks on the ECDSA cryptography currently used for signatures.
• The plan includes a hard fork and a migration deadline, requiring users to move their funds to more secure wallets before the specified time.

If the new proposal is approved, Bitcoin could face its most significant cryptographic overhaul yet.

A draft Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP), called the Quantum-Resistant Address Migration Protocol (QRAMP), was submitted by developer Agustin Cruz. It outlines a plan to migrate BTC from legacy wallets to those secured by post-quantum cryptography.

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Quantum computing involves moving away from the binary system based on ones and zeros and exponentially increasing computing power through the use of quantum bits (qubits), which can be in multiple states at once. This leap in power is expected to threaten current computational encryption designed for classical machines.

The proposal states that after a certain block height is reached, nodes running the updated software will reject any transactions attempting to spend coins from an address using ECDSA cryptography, which could theoretically make it vulnerable to quantum attacks.

Hard fork discussion

Bitcoin currently relies on algorithms including SHA-256 for mining and the Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) for signatures. Stale addresses that have not yet had transactions have additional layers of protection, while those that have exposed their public keys needed for transactions could become vulnerable “if sufficiently powerful quantum computers become available,” Cruz said.

This step would require a hard fork, which would likely be a difficult task for the community. A hard fork refers to a change to the blockchain that makes the previous version incompatible.

“I admire the effort, but it will still leave the coins of everyone who doesn't move them vulnerable, including Satoshi's,” one Reddit user commented on the new proposal.

“Bitcoin could implement post-quantum security for all coins, but it would require a hard fork, which, given Bitcoin's history and the mantra repeated by maximalists, would create a new coin and no longer be Bitcoin.”

Read more: Revisiting the Block Size Wars: How Bitcoin's Civil War Still Resonates

Precautionary measure

The proposed solution sets a migration deadline to lock these funds unless they are moved to a more secure wallet. The proposal is not a response to any imminent quantum computing breakthrough. Rather, it is a preventative measure, but it comes just over a month after Microsoft unveiled Majorana 1, a quantum processor designed to scale to a million qubits per chip.

During the migration period, users will still be able to move funds freely. BIP encourages wallet developers, block explorers, and ”

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