Burning quantum-vulnerable BTC is the best option — Jameson Lopp
17 March 2025 - 6:48AM
Cointelegraph
Jameson Lopp, the chief security officer at Bitcoin
(BTC) custody company Casa, recently
argued against allowing quantum recovery of lost BTC and said that
burning these coins to protect the integrity of the protocol was
the preferable option.
According to Lopp, allowing individuals or institutions with
quantum computers
to recover lost coins violates the Bitcoin network's properties
of censorship resistance, transaction immutability, and
conservatism.
In a March 16 article, the
crypto executive wrote that allowing quantum recovery is not good
for anyone. Lopp added:
"Allowing quantum recovery of bitcoin is tantamount to
wealth redistribution. What we would 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."
"It is hard to see a bright side to that scenario," the
executive continued before concluding that quantum recovery can
only harm the security of the Bitcoin network.
The threat posed by
quantum computers to Bitcoin continues to be hotly debated,
with some arguing that the threat to modern
encryption is decades away, others arguing that quantum
computers will never be practical, and some warning that the threat
is imminent.
Jameson Lopp discusses the risks posed by quantum computers
at the Future of Bitcoin Conference in 2024. Source:
Future
of Bitcoin Conference
Related: Crypto, quantum computing on collision course as
Microsoft debuts new chip
The great quantum scare of 2024
In October 2024, researchers at Shanghai University
claimed they
broke encryption standards used in military and banking
applications using a quantum computer.
However, YouTuber "Mental Outlaw" later asserted that these
claims were overblown and that the researchers
did not break
modern encryption standards.
The YouTuber said that the quantum computer used by the research
team could only factorize the integer 2,269,753, which set a new
record for quantum computers but still lagged behind some classical
computers.
Mental Outlaw added that the device used in the experiment could
only break a 22-bit key, while the record set by a classical
computer was breaking an 892-bit key.
Modern encryption key sizes can range anywhere between 2048 to
4096 bits, with the option of extending key sizes in the future to
make them even more secure.
Magazine: Bitcoin vs. the quantum computer threat:
Timeline and solutions (2025–2035)
...
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the best option — Jameson Lopp
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Burning quantum-vulnerable BTC is the best option —
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