Opinion: Bitcoin should not accept 「confiscating Satoshi’s holdings」 in exchange for security, even if the threat of quantum computing comes.

BlockBeats News, May 3rd, Galaxy Digital Research Director Alex Thorn published an article stating that after discussions in Las Vegas with multiple Bitcoin developers, researchers, and quantum computing supporters, a partial consensus is forming in the industry regarding the issue of “Quantum Computing and Bitcoin.”

Thorn believes that most opinions support “not touching the early P2PK address assets held by Satoshi Nakamoto,” because doing so could undermine Bitcoin’s core principle of inviolable property rights. He points out that Satoshi Nakamoto is estimated to hold about 1.1 million BTC scattered across approximately 22k addresses, not a single “super vault,” and that the real large-scale risks come more from exchanges and other entities that can proactively upgrade to quantum-resistant addresses.

He also states that the industry generally supports early research into Bitcoin’s quantum-resistant cryptographic solutions, including development, testing, signature compression, and protocol discussions, even if ultimately only “as a backup reserve” it still holds significance.

However, Thorn also warns that pushing unverified quantum-resistant upgrades excessively could lead to protocol complexity, dispersed development resources, and community consensus deadlocks. He believes that even if quantum computing ultimately poses only a very low probability threat to Bitcoin, early discussions and technical preparations are still worthwhile.