Opinion: The Bitcoin community is forming an initial consensus on the quantum threat and is promoting a roadmap for quantum-resistant upgrades.

BlockBeats News, May 4th, Galaxy Digital Research Director Alex Thorn stated that as quantum computing hardware advances accelerate, the Bitcoin community is shifting from dispersed debates to forming a preliminary consensus on the quantum threat, with the core approach being the gradual introduction of post-quantum cryptography (PQC) through soft forks to upgrade address systems and ensure long-term security.

The report pointed out that the current Bitcoin signature mechanism using elliptic curve digital signature algorithms could theoretically be cracked by Shor’s algorithm. Early P2PKH addresses with approximately 2 million BTC have exposed public keys, facing the potential risk of “collect first, decrypt later.” The community favors promoting a “migration window” mechanism, guiding users to transfer assets to quantum-resistant new addresses, and after a multi-year grace period, implementing freezing or destruction of unmigrated assets to prevent large-scale sell-offs that could shock the market in extreme cases.

Additionally, the consensus includes enhancing “cryptographic agility,” meaning allowing protocols to switch signature algorithms without interrupting the network. The current plan leans toward a dual-signature mechanism that runs ECDSA and PQC (such as Dilithium) in parallel, ensuring security redundancy while enabling a smooth transition. Analysts believe this approach will transform the quantum threat from a “black swan event” into a manageable technical upgrade, helping to solidify Bitcoin’s security foundation as a long-term store of value.