Jameson Lopp, chief security officer at Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) custody firm Casa and a noted technologist, opposed the use of quantum computers to recover lost BTCs on Sunday and instead proposed burning them to uphold the protocol’s integrity.
What Happened: In a blog post, Lopp envisioned a scenario where the Bitcoin network would undergo a quantum resistance upgrade and discussed what should ideally be done with quantum-vulnerable coins and coins that have been hacked.
“Allowing quantum recovery of Bitcoin is tantamount to wealth redistribution,” Lopp argued. “What we’d be allowing is for Bitcoin to be redistributed from those who are ignorant of quantum computers to those who have won the technological race to acquire quantum computers.”
He further added that allowing a quantum adversary to gain control of others’ funds would violate the “Not your keys, not your coins” thesis and weaken the fundamental principles of cryptocurrencies. Moreover, if the entity exploits vulnerable addresses, it would erode trust in Bitcoin as a trusted store of value.
To avoid this, Lopp suggested alerting users that vulnerable funds would be burned or frozen after a specified date. This, according to him, would fasten migration to quantum-resistant addresses.
“Allowing vulnerable users to delay upgrading indefinitely will result in more laggards, leaving the network more exposed when quantum tech becomes available,” Lopp stated.
See Also: House Committee Favors Stablecoin Regulation To ‘Strengthen’ Dollar: Majority Whip Says CBDCs Against ‘American Values’
Why It Matters: The debate around quantum computing and its potential threat to Bitcoin has been ongoing.
Last year, Google’s new “Willow” quantum computing chip sparked concerns about a powerful computer potentially breaking through the apex cryptocurrency’s encryption, although some experts stated that this was still “lightyears” away.
Moreover, a study suggested that Bitcoin might need to undergo a costly and time-consuming update process to ward off the threat of quantum computing in the future.
The study estimated that a protocol update to protect Bitcoin from quantum computing threats would require taking the cryptocurrency offline for about 76 days if 100% of the bandwidth is committed to the process. If only 25% of the bandwidth is allowed, the update could take nearly 305 days or 10 months.
Price Action: At the time of writing, Bitcoin was exchanging hands at $83,275.88, down 1.10% in the last 24 hours, according to data from Benzinga Pro.
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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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