StarkWare CPO proposes quantum-safe Bitcoin transactions without forks, costing $75–$150 per transaction
StarkWare’s CPO Avihu Levy proposed a “Quantum Safe Bitcoin” scheme that lets you send Bitcoin transactions resistant to quantum attacks today. No soft fork, no hard fork, no protocol changes. The catch: $75–$150 in GPU compute per transaction.
Levy published QSB on GitHub. It fits inside legacy Bitcoin Script. No new opcodes. No miner coordination. From the network’s view, it looks like a normal spend. Source: GitHub repo.
QSB replaces ECDSA’s “prove-the-private-key” with a “hash-to-sig” brute-force puzzle. The sender searches for an input whose hash mimics a valid ECDSA signature. Shor’s algorithm doesn’t help here. Background on the quantum threat and qubit estimates: CoinSpeaker’s coverage of Google Quantum AI research. Methodology and parameters: QSB paper (PDF).
Compute cost sits with the sender, not miners. Source: QSB paper
Levy pegs the compute cost at $75–$150 per transaction at current prices. That targets large-value moves, not coffee payments. Source: GitHub repo.
Status check. The proposal isn’t peer-reviewed. No BIP filed. StarkWare’s CEO Eli Ben-Sasson amplified the claim that it “makes Bitcoin quantum-safe today,” but this refers to specific transactions under QSB’s model, not the whole network. Sources: Levy’s post, Ben-Sasson’s comment.
Key points for crypto investors:
- No forks or protocol changes needed for QSB. Source: GitHub repo.
- Security shifts from ECDSA to hash preimage resistance. Sources: QSB paper, quantum risk context.
- $75–$150 GPU cost per tx confines usage to high-value transfers. Source: GitHub repo.
- Not yet verified by peers; no standardization path in Bitcoin governance. Sources: GitHub repo, commentary.
Headline
StarkWare’s Levy unveils “quantum-safe” Bitcoin transactions without forks; $75–$150 GPU per send
