Quantum hackers may one day break into old Bitcoin (BTC) wallets and write their signatures. New evidence from security startup Project Eleven offers owners a way to get their money back, using nothing but seed words.
Not everyone can use it, however. Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) said in June that the community could stop Satoshi Nakamoto’s coin after a massive success. Critics called it a coup.
Why Bitcoin Quantum Freeze Is Only So Limited
The idea of freezing is already on paper. BIP-361, a an idea co-authored by Casa co-founder Jameson Lopp, would turn off Bitcoin’s old signature system in a few years. Coins that don’t move can freeze forever.
The pressure grew after that Washington quantum push put hazards on the map. However, one objection kept coming back. Freezing removes coins with no way back.
The latest Project Eleven to announce attacking the weak point. His proof serves as a receipt. It shows that you have the master key behind the address without revealing it.
Here’s the trick. A quantum computer can decrypt the private key of a virtual address. However, it cannot go all the way to the master key, because the math there is only one-way.
Only the real owner has the master key. So only the real owner can release the evidence, even if the signatures are broken.
Speed makes it useful. Academics Or Sattath and Shai Wyborski floated this point in 2023, calling it a signature lift. Lightning Labs CTO Olaoluwa Osuntokun created the first prototype. The new version runs 16 times faster, at 243 milliseconds for the laptop.
“Quantum computers can generate a private key from a public key. They can’t change the hashes they generate. A key copy of a wallet can provide the ultimate proof of ownership,” Project Eleven. he said.
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Because This Tool Can’t Save Satoshi Coins
The catch is in the calendar. The certificate requires BIP-32, a system of seed words for modern wallets adopted from 2012. Older wallets generated each key separately, without master keys at all.
Satoshi mined in 2009 and 2010 and left before the word. Researcher Sergio Demian Lerner’s analysis of 2013 links about 1.1 million BTC to Satoshi across 22,000 addresses.
Worst of all, the coins reveal their keys to the public. This makes them easier to track and more difficult to save.
Therefore, CZ’s concept of freeze Satoshi coins they can still shut them down just fine. BIP-361 can do the same by design.
This tool also has limitations. It’s not readable, covers three types of old addresses, and no blockchain accepts it yet.
Meanwhile, the clock is ticking. Google quantum research reduce the equipment needed for such an attack by 20 times this year. US corporations are meeting again the final days of post-quantum cryptography on 2031.
One question now hangs over the authority of Bitcoin. When it’s cold, the fight won’t end if the coins freeze. It will be about the money that will come back.
A note Bitcoin Has New Defense Against Quantum Hackers, But It Won’t Save Everyone appeared for the first time BeInCrypto.
