Coinbase Demands Bitcoin Migrate to Post-Quantum Cryptography

Coinbase holds about 5% of all Bitcoin, equivalent to roughly $80 billion. The platform has called for migrating the network to post-quantum cryptography before real quantum computers appear.

Migrating wallets and changing rules in Bitcoin takes years, and the network lacks a central authority to make such decisions.

The main threat lies in the possibility of secretly creating a powerful quantum machine to carry out an attack before it becomes public knowledge.

• Searching for addresses with exposed public keys and computing private ones
• Intercepting transactions before they enter a block and replacing them

According to Google's estimates, around 2.3 million BTC worth approximately $190 billion are vulnerable, including Satoshi Nakamoto's coins.

Coinbase proposes implementing signature algorithm changes without rebuilding the entire system via BIP-360.

• Implementing a hybrid mode supporting both legacy and post-quantum keys
• Compatibility of new signatures with multi-signature storage schemes (MPC)

The fate of "sleepy" coins is proposed to be discussed separately to avoid slowing down the main work on protocol updates.