Satoshi says Bitcoin can upgrade to resist quantum attacks
Luke Martin resurfaced Satoshi Nakamoto’s only public comment on quantum risk to Bitcoin. Analysts add that today’s ~6,000‑qubit machines are far from breaking BTC.
Satoshi’s stance in 2010 was pragmatic. A sudden breakthrough would be dangerous, but gradual progress would let the network migrate to stronger cryptography and re‑sign coins after users upgrade their software source.
The “imminent threat” talk is overstated, says analyst pika2zero source.
He cites current leaders at roughly 6,000 qubits with stability around 13 seconds. In his view, cracking modern crypto would require about 500,000 stable qubits sustained for ~9 minutes, and real needs could run into the millions as complexity rises source source.
Mounting such an attack would demand vast capital, energy, and infrastructure. He argues only Big Tech—like Google or IBM—could realistically attempt it, not lone hackers source.
On defenses, CoinDesk’s James Van Straten flags BIP‑360 as a near‑term mitigation, though not a complete fix source.
He adds two market angles. Quantum access to Patoshi’s coins—estimated at ~1 million BTC—could be “fair game” source. And spot markets have absorbed similar size before, with close to 1 million BTC transacting over 30 days in December without systemic stress source. He also points to Hourglass V2 as an alternative approach source.
Quantum fears are re‑surfacing amid 2029 “warning” headlines tied to Google, fueling debate over timelines and preparedness source.
