Coinbase said it held a closed-door "Post-Quantum Bitcoin Workshop" at Stanford University together with Stanford cryptography professor Dan Boneh and Localhost Research, bringing in Bitcoin developers, cryptography specialists, researchers, institutional custodians and hardware wallet experts. The discussion focused on how Bitcoin could prepare for future quantum computing threats and what a workable migration path might look like.
According to Coinbase, participants reviewed progress in quantum computing, the state of post-quantum cryptography, and several post-quantum signature approaches that could fit Bitcoin. The workshop also covered Ethereum’s quantum-resistance planning, operational requirements faced by institutional custody businesses, and the possibility of adding post-quantum security to Bitcoin through mechanisms such as new output types.
A key view from attendees was that the industry should spend less effort trying to predict the exact moment quantum computing becomes a real threat to current cryptographic systems, and more effort building well-tested response plans in advance. They said quantum computing is not yet an urgent crisis for Bitcoin, but early research and coordination could reduce the risk of a rushed network upgrade or asset migration later. No single post-quantum approach has yet reached consensus, and trade-offs remain across security, transaction data size, hardware performance, key management and user migration complexity.
Coinbase said it hosted a closed-door "Post-Quantum Bitcoin Workshop" at Stanford University with Stanford cryptography professor Dan Boneh and Localhost Research. The event brought together Bitcoin developers, cryptography experts, researchers, institutional custodians and hardware wallet specialists to discuss technical options and migration plans for protecting Bitcoin against future quantum computing threats.
Topics covered at the workshop
According to Coinbase, participants evaluated recent progress in quantum computing, post-quantum cryptography, and different post-quantum signature schemes that could be applied to Bitcoin. They also discussed Ethereum’s quantum-resistance planning, the practical requirements faced by institutional custody businesses, and ways to introduce post-quantum security into Bitcoin, including through new output types.
Main takeaways from participants
Attendees said the more important task is not to predict exactly when quantum computing will become a practical threat to existing cryptographic systems, but to build well-tested response plans ahead of time. In their view, quantum computing does not yet present an urgent crisis, but starting research and coordination early could help Bitcoin avoid a rushed network upgrade and asset migration under pressure in the future.
No consensus on a single approach
There is still no consensus on any one post-quantum solution. Different approaches involve trade-offs in security, transaction data size, hardware performance, key management and the difficulty of user migration.
Participants also said Bitcoin’s quantum resistance cannot rely only on a protocol-layer upgrade. It also needs to address how individual users, institutional custodians, wallets and hardware devices would generate, store, back up and migrate keys and assets.
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