Bitcoin Aims to Secure $100B+ from Quantum Computing Threats with New Proposal

The Bitcoin community is addressing a pressing issue: securing its vast wealth against potential quantum computing threats. The newly drafted improvement proposal, BIP-361, outlines a comprehensive strategy to protect wallets vulnerable to these future risks.

Authored by Jameson Lopp and five collaborators, the proposal aims to freeze and transfer Bitcoin wallets with public keys susceptible to quantum computer attacks. As of March 1, 2026, over 34% of the entire Bitcoin supply had such exposed public keys on the blockchain.

The plan involves a multi-stage rollout, starting with Phase A, which would prohibit new transactions to at-risk addresses, implementing a three-year buffer period post-activation. Phase B would completely invalidate legacy cryptographic signatures at a predetermined point five years following activation.

Project Eleven has developed a zero-knowledge proof platform for coin recovery scenarios, enabling wallet holders to demonstrate possession of key material without exposing sensitive information. However, this technology cannot recover Satoshi Nakamoto's approximately 1.1 million Bitcoin, mined during 2009 and 2010, due to their pre-dated wallet standard.