quantumcomputers

Bitcoin developers just formalized a proposal to freeze over $450 billion worth of Bitcoin.

> Quantum computers are coming. Old wallets with exposed public keys will eventually be crackable.

> They want to freeze them before someone else cracks them.

> The proposal is BIP-361. Co-authored by Jameson Lopp. It just hit Bitcoin's official repo this week.

> The mechanism is a soft fork. Three years after activation, you can no longer send Bitcoin to old wallet types.

> Two years after that, those coins become permanently unspendable.

> Around 6.5 MILLION $BTC affected. Roughly 25% of all supply.

> Lopp himself acknowledges what this is. He rejects the word "confiscation" and prefers "burning."

> Here is the part nobody is talking about.

> The chain cannot tell the difference between Satoshi's dormant coins and a longterm holder waiting for $500,000 to sell.

> They look identical on chain. The early miner who set up a wallet in 2011 and forgot about it.

> The OG who bought at $200 and never moved them.

> The cold storage wallet sitting in a safe. All burned together.

> But the deeper question is how this is even possible.

> Five people have merge authority on Bitcoin Core. One person merges roughly 65% of all code.

> Six mining pools control 96 to 99% of all blocks. Activation requires their signaling.

> A coordinated decision by maybe two dozen people can change the rules and burn 25% of the supply.

> Bitcoin has done this before. In 2010, a bug created 184 BILLION $BTC out of thin air.

> Satoshi himself coordinated a fork to erase it. The chain rolled back 50 blocks.

> Ethereum did it in 2016. The DAO got hacked for $60 MILLION.

> Developers rewrote history to take the money back from a wallet whose owner had not signed off.

> The principled chain that refused to fork is now called Ethereum Classic and it is a fraction of the size.

> The lesson is the same in both cases. When the cost of the principle is high enough, the principle bends.

> Bitcoin was supposed to be the one thing nobody could touch.

> What Bitcoin actually is and what this proposal is forcing into the open, is a network that can be changed when enough of the right people agree.

> Most of the time they don't but the option has always been there.

> Decentralized at the participation layer. Coordinated at the change layer.

> The freeze might never happen. Activation requires consensus that does not exist yet.

> Tether's CEO Paolo Ardoino has already pushed back. "Code is law" he says. Don't touch the rules.

> The plan is already written down. The way to do it is already worked out. The list of people who would need to say yes already exists.

> The only question left is whether someone, someday, decides the reason is good enough.

The freeze might never happen. The fact that it could is the part that matters.

#quantumcomputers $BTC

 NVIDIA Launches Ising, the World’s First Open AI Models to Accelerate the Path to Useful Quantum Computers NVIDIA Ising Delivers Breakthrough Performance in Quantum Calibration and Error Correction, Empowering Researchers and Enterprises to Build Scalable, High-Performance Quantum Systems.
The NVIDIA Ising open model family delivers the world’s best AI-based quantum processor calibration capabilities, as well as quantum error-correction decoding that is up to 2.5x faster and 3x more accurate than traditional approaches.
Leading quantum enterprises, academic institutions and research labs adopting Ising include Academia Sinica, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Infleqtion, IQM Quantum Computers, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Advanced Quantum Testbed and the U.K. National Physical Laboratory (NPL).
NVIDIA today announced the world’s first family of open source quantum AI models, NVIDIA Ising, designed to help researchers and enterprises build quantum processors capable of running useful applications.
To achieve useful quantum applications at scale, significant breakthroughs are needed in quantum processor calibration and quantum error correction. AI is key for turning today’s quantum processors into large-scale, reliable computers. Open models empower developers to build high-performance AI while maintaining total control over their data and infrastructure.
Named after a landmark mathematical model that dramatically simplified the understanding of complex physical systems, the NVIDIA Ising family provides high-performance, scalable AI tools for quantum error correction and calibration — two of the most critical challenges in building hybrid-quantum classical systems.
Ising models run the world’s best quantum processor calibration and enable researchers to tackle much larger, more complex problems with quantum computers by delivering up to 2.5x faster performance and 3x higher accuracy for the decoding process needed for quantum error correction.
“AI is essential to making quantum computing practical,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. “With Ising, AI becomes the control plane — the operating system of quantum machines — transforming fragile qubits to scalable and reliable quantum-GPU systems.”
De Nvidia Newsroom.
El interés de las grandes tecnológicas por la computación cuántica empieza a aumentar, y un mayor flujo de capital así como una carrera tecnología puede acelerar la adopción de dicha tecnología, como ahora está ocurriendo en la IA.
Bank of America estima que para 2030 todas las redes blockchain deben tener actualizadas sus sistemas de criptografía post-cuánticos, haciendo hincapié tanto en aquellas redes que están tardando en acometer los cambios, como el aquellas billeteras inactivas y antiguas, que resultarán del todo vulnerables, con unos 1,7 Millones de BTC expuestos.
¿La computación cuántica llegará antes que la protección, o cogerá a protocolos al descubierto?
$BTC
#quantumcomputers
#NVIDIA

A paper published in April 9 by StarkWare's Chief Product Officer outlines a method to make Bitcoin transactions quantum-safe using existing consensus rules. A single protective transaction costs roughly $200, and it is deployable right now.

Key Takeaways
QSB uses hash-based cryptography resistant to Shor's algorithm - no soft fork needed.Standard Bitcoin transactions have effectively zero security against a quantum computer.Single protective transaction costs ~$200 due to larger signature data size.Works within existing Bitcoin scripts - deployable today without network consensus.BIP-360 offers a future efficient alternative but requires a soft fork.
The Problem QSB Is Solving
Standard Bitcoin transactions use ECDSA, a signature scheme whose security rests on the mathematical difficulty of solving elliptic curve problems. Classical computers cannot crack it in any practical timeframe. A quantum computer running Shor's algorithm can. The algorithm reverses the signature process, deriving private keys from public keys and unlocking any wallet whose public key has been exposed on-chain.
Every Bitcoin transaction that has ever broadcast a public key is theoretically vulnerable to a sufficiently powerful quantum computer, for which even Grayscale said that blockchains must be ready. The paper puts the security gap in precise terms: roughly 118 bits of protection against Shor's algorithm for QSB transactions, compared to effectively zero for standard ones. That is not a small difference. It is the entire difference between a protected wallet and an empty one.
The quantum threat to Bitcoin is not new. The inability to fix it through normal channels is the actual problem, and that is what QSB addresses.
Why "No Soft Fork" Is the Real Breakthrough
Bitcoin governance moves slowly by design. Any proposal requiring a network-wide upgrade must achieve broad consensus across developers, miners, and node operators, a process that takes years and frequently fails. BIP-360, the long-term quantum-resistant proposal that StarkWare co-authored and which was merged in February 2026, requires exactly that kind of soft fork, according to CoinDesk reprot. It will eventually offer a more data-efficient solution. It is not available today.
QSB bypasses that bottleneck entirely. The scheme uses hash-based cryptography, specifically Winternitz One-Time Signatures, which is natively resistant to Shor's algorithm and compatible with existing Bitcoin script rules. No network upgrade. No consensus required. No waiting for governance to move.
A holder with significant Bitcoin exposure can execute a protective transaction today using the open-source QSB repository published alongside the paper. The protection is real, the code is available, and the Bitcoin network does not need to do anything to support it.
The Cost and What It Means
The tradeoff is size and price. Quantum-safe signatures are substantially larger in data than standard ECDSA signatures, enough to push the cost of a single protective transaction to approximately $200 at current fee conditions. That creates an immediate two-tier reality. For a holder with $10 million in Bitcoin, $200 is insurance priced at a rounding error. For a holder with $1,000, it is a 20% fee on the entire position.
QSB is not a retail solution. It is an emergency fallback for holders who cannot afford to wait for BIP-360 to move through Bitcoin's governance process, and who have reason to believe the quantum timeline is shorter than the soft fork timeline. StarkWare is pursuing both tracks simultaneously: the deployable high-cost solution now, the efficient network-wide solution through BIP-360 later. The two are not in competition. They are covering different parts of the same risk window.
That window is open right now. BIP-360 has no confirmed activation date. QSB exists today. For any holder doing a quantum risk calculation, that gap between what is available now and what requires network consensus to become available is exactly the period QSB was designed for.
Where It Stands
The project is early stage and the paper is explicit about that. The open-source repository is published and the cryptographic framework is documented, but QSB has not been stress-tested at production scale. If the review process surfaces vulnerabilities in the WOTS implementation, the $200 cost figure becomes academic. Early stage in cryptographic research means the foundation is credible, not that the building is finished.
What exists today is a deployable proof of concept with a sound cryptographic basis, published by StarkWare's Chief Product Officer, open-sourced for peer review, and compatible with the Bitcoin network as it currently operates. The significance is not that QSB solves Bitcoin's quantum problem, it does not. It is that QSB proves the problem can be partially addressed without network consensus, which changes the risk calculation for any large holder who assumed they had no options until BIP-360 cleared governance.
The 118-bit security floor QSB provides is not perfect. It is 118 bits better than zero.
#quantumcomputers

*Market Update*
- $BTC Bitcoin had its worst Q1 since 2018, down nearly 24%, impacted by macro pressure and Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs threatening 10% duties on 50+ countries.
- BTC is holding around $66,500-$67,000, with historical April averages showing +12.4% gains, but current selloff appears structural rather than sentiment-driven.
- Ethereum's Glamsterdam upgrade is set for June 2026, promising 78% gas fee reduction and 10,000 TPS.

*Headlines*
- Charles Schwab launching "Schwab Crypto" for direct BTC and ETH trading with its $12 trillion client base in H1 2026.
- Google's quantum computing paper suggests Bitcoin's encryption could be cracked with under 500,000 qubits, a 20x reduction from previous estimates; quantum-resistant tokens are up 50%.
- $400M in crypto positions liquidated in a day due to tariff fears and macro uncertainty amid $13.5B derivatives expiry.

*Altcoins*
$XRP $USDC
- ETH near $2,040, consolidating ahead of Glamsterdam upgrade.
- NEAR Protocol +5.8% and AVAX +3.6%, leading altcoin gains.
- XRP range-bound at $1.33, needing a break above $1.35 for upside.
#ChaosLabsLeavingAave #DriftInvestigationLinksRecentAttackToNorthKoreanHackers #USJoblessClaimsNearTwo-YearLow #quantumcomputers #QuantumCrypto

Quantum computers are considered one of the most promising technologies of the future. They promise computing power far beyond that of classical computers. However, this revolution could also pose a threat to modern cryptography—and thus to systems like Bitcoin.
The critical question is: Can quantum computers break Bitcoin? And if so, will Bitcoin need an upgrade?
How Quantum Computers Threaten Cryptography
The security of modern cryptography relies on mathematical problems that are difficult for classical computers to solve. Bitcoin primarily uses two algorithms:
1. SHA-256 (for hash functions)
2. ECDSA (Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm, for digital signatures)
Quantum computers could specifically attack ECDSA using Shor’s Algorithm, which can break elliptic curve cryptography. In theory, this would allow an attacker to derive private keys from public addresses—a nightmare scenario for Bitcoin.
Does This Also Affect SHA-256?
Fortunately, SHA-256 (and similar hash functions) are only minimally vulnerable to quantum attacks. Grover’s Algorithm could theoretically cut search times in half, but even then, attacking Bitcoin mining or transaction hashes would be extremely resource-intensive.
Is Bitcoin Really at Risk?
The good news: Not anytime soon.
1. Quantum computers are not yet powerful enough
- Current quantum computers have only a few error-prone qubits.
1. Breaking ECDSA would require thousands of error-corrected qubits—something that is still years or decades away.
2. Bitcoin transactions are often "quantum-resistant"
- As long as Bitcoin addresses are used only once (as recommended), the risk is low.
- Only publicly known addresses (e.g., unused funds in old wallets) would be vulnerable.
3. The community can adapt
- If quantum computers become a real threat, Bitcoin can upgrade to quantum-resistant cryptography (e.g., Lamport signatures or lattice-based cryptography).
Will Bitcoin Need an Upgrade? Long-term: Yes.
Once quantum computers become practically viable, Bitcoin will need to update its signature algorithms. However, progress is slow enough that the community will have time to respond.
Possible Solutions:
- Post-quantum cryptography (e.g., XMSS, SPHINCS+)
- Schnorr signatures (already part of Bitcoin’s protocol, offering better scalability and serving as a foundation for quantum-resistant upgrades)
- Hybrid systems (combining ECDSA with quantum-resistant signatures)
Conclusion: Bitcoin is (Still) Safe
Quantum computers pose a potential threat, but not an immediate one. Bitcoin developers have time to prepare, and promising quantum-resistant solutions already exist.
Bitcoin won’t be cracked overnight—but the community must stay vigilant. Once quantum computing makes significant advances, an upgrade will be necessary. Until then, the network remains secure.

Further Topics:
- Post-quantum cryptography
- Quantum-Resistant Ledger (QRL)
- Bitcoin Improvement Proposals (BIPs) for quantum security
#quantumcomputers #Cryptography
$BTC