Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) floated the freezing of Satoshi’s Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, which will not be at risk if they remain stable after future network upgrades. He raised it as a question for the community, not a personal plan.
The CEO of Binance shared the idea on the Galaxy Brains podcast with the head of Galaxy Research Alex Thorn. He has since pushed back on reports that he would block Satoshi Nakamoto’s address for a year.
Is Satoshi’s Bitcoin Freeze a Good Idea?
The debate intensified in March, when Google’s Quantum AI published research on breaking the cryptography that protects digital signatures.
His team estimates that the attack would require less than 500,000 qubits and run in a few minutes, under previous demonstrations.
The danger lies in the exposed keys. A quantum computer can extract private keys from public keys, then drain the wallets they protect.
Repair that is implement quantum-resistant cryptographyhowever integrating this into the internet takes years.
More than a third of all Bitcoins had disclosed the public key by March. That leaves them in it deals with quantum stealing.
Satoshi Nakamoto mined about 1.1 million BTC in 2009 and 2010. This estimate is based on the Patoshi model followed by researcher Sergio Demian Lerner.
On Bitcoin’s current market value about $63,244, the amount is worth about $70 billion.
What CZ Really Said
Zhao did not call for arrests, nor did he say that Binance would take any action. He put the decision to the community, and asked why it should not be set for a period of one year.
Amounts left in vulnerable addresses after this point are closed with a fork.
CZ he said the famous take that he himself freezes the address Satoshi was not quite right. He also declared jealousy, that telling Satoshi wallets different from other early miners is difficult.
Zhao is he advocated quantum stability risk before.
His opinion is consistent with BIP-361, written by Jameson Lopp and five other researchers. It can block shipping to vulnerable addresses three years after opening, then sign entries two years after that.
The authors make the wrong choice. A thief could take the stolen coins, or the miners could slowly recover them. The network can close so that no one wins.
That opinion also mentions the creator of Bitcoin in the case of lost money.
“Lost money just makes everyone else’s money bigger. Think of it as a donation to everyone,” Satoshi Nakamoto, as mentioned in the mind.
Housing costs are challenged on another front. An anonymous plaintiff and two Wyoming LLCs are fighting the New York abandoned-property case.
They want 39,069 invalid addresses, including Satoshi coins, that were declared as theirs. Galaxy report through thorns, doubt will prevail.
Any forced lock still violates Bitcoin’s law: no one can take someone else’s money. Many would read it as extortion.
CZ said there is no perfect answer. He warned that doing nothing could have dire consequences.
A note CZ Floats Satoshi’s Bitcoin Freeze Beyond Quantum Risk appeared for the first time BeInCrypto.
