Bitcoin (BTC)'s transition to post-quantum standards will take a minimum of five to 10 years, in accordance with Jameson Lopp, core developer of Bitcoin and co-founder of crypto custody company Casa, who commented on the continuing debate over quantum computing.
Lopp agreed with Adam Back, CEO of crypto infrastructure company Blockstream, that there isn’t a near-term threat to Bitcoin from quantum computing. Lopp said in an X post.
“Quantum computers is not going to break Bitcoin within the near future. We will proceed to observe their development. However, thoughtful changes to the protocol and an unprecedented migration of funds could easily take 5 to 10 years.” Source: Jameson Lopp
We should hope for the very best but prepare for the worst,” he added. In a separate post, he said that the Bitcoin protocol could be harder to upgrade to post-quantum standards than centralized software because of its distributed consensus model.
The debate over the quantum threat and possible solutions stays a serious topic of dialogue within the Bitcoin community, with a growing divide between Bitcoin maximalists who call for caution relating to making changes to the protocol and enterprise capitalists (VCs) who say the quantum threat is imminent.
Bitcoin OGs, developers and whales clash with enterprise capitalists
“Quantum resistance solutions are inexpensive enough to be funded by nonprofits and VCs,” said Bitcoin maximalist Pierre Rochard.
Rochard added that attacking Bitcoin via quantum computing could be so expensive that the federal government could be forced to “subsidize it as a collective motion problem.”
Source: Pierre Rochard
Samson Mow, a Bitcoin investor and CEO of wallet company and advocacy group JAN3, also expressed doubts in regards to the ability of a quantum computer to crack Bitcoin's security.
“In reality, quantum computers cannot factor the number 21 — not 21 million — 21 without heavily adjusting the algorithm,” Mow said.
Still, enterprise capitalists and other investment firms warn that the value of BTC is influenced by the threat or perceived threat of quantum computing.
According to Charles Edwards, founding father of digital asset investment fund Capriole, the value of BTC could fall below $50,000 if the protocol shouldn’t be quantum ready by 2028.
Edwards called on Bitcoin node operators to implement Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) 360, which introduces a quantum-ready signature scheme for BTC.
