Bitcoin security researcher Justin Drake said in an interview that early mining addresses linked to Satoshi Nakamoto could be vulnerable to quantum attacks because they used raw public keys instead of hashed addresses. He said the addresses in question hold about 1 million BTC. Drake added that ordinary users remain safe as long as they move bitcoin to a fresh address and do not spend from it, since the public key is not exposed in that case. He also said even the fastest quantum computers currently being discussed would still need time to break keys, so users do not need to rush into post-quantum cryptography tools that are still under development. According to Drake, Bitcoin developers are already testing quantum-resistant approaches, including Quantum Safe Bitcoin transactions that do not require consensus changes and the BIP-361 proposal, which is designed to gradually freeze vulnerable addresses. The report was cited by CryptoPotato.
Bitcoin security researcher Justin Drake said in an interview that early mining addresses associated with Satoshi Nakamoto are exposed to quantum attack risk because they used raw public keys rather than hashed addresses. The addresses hold about 1 million BTC.
Drake said ordinary users remain safe if they move bitcoin to a new address and do not spend from it, because the public key is not revealed in that case.
He also said that even the fastest quantum computers now being discussed would still need time to break keys. For that reason, users do not need to rush into post-quantum cryptography tools that are still being developed, as doing so could introduce vulnerabilities or expose them to scams.
Drake added that Bitcoin developers are testing quantum-resistant options, including Quantum Safe Bitcoin transactions that do not require changes to the consensus rules, as well as the BIP-361 proposal, which aims to gradually freeze vulnerable addresses.
The item cited CryptoPotato as the source.
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