Freezing 5.6 million dormant bitcoin could trigger ‘worst’ single-day repricing
Maximalists warn freezing 5.6M BTC risks instant sell-offs, while others say quantum threats leave no alternative.
By Olivier Acuna|Edited by Nikhilesh De
Apr 26, 2026, 7:00 p.m.
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In light of the genuine risk quantum computing representes, the debate whether to freeze or not freeze continues.
What to know:
Bitcoin developers and analysts are fiercely debating a proposal to freeze about 5.6 million long-dormant coins to protect them from potential future quantum-computing attacks.
Critics warn that freezing any coins would shatter Bitcoin’s promise of unconditional, censorship-resistant ownership and could trigger one of the worst single-day repricings in the cryptocurrency’s history.
Supporters argue that quantum computing poses an existential threat that may justify controversial tradeoffs, while others insist that inaction and voluntary defenses are preferable to what they see as protocol-level confiscation.
Freezing dormant bitcoin BTC$77,822.05 would trigger an immediate repricing and mark one of the world's oldest cryptocurrency's worst trading days since its 2009 launch, advocates told CoinDesk.
Bitcoin developers and crypto industry participants have debated for weeks whether they should freeze dormant tokens to protect them against the risk of theft through quantum computing, whenever those machines begin going online.
“Freezing any coins, even ‘lost’ ones, tells the market that all (roughly) 19.8 million BTC currently in circulation are conditionally owned,” said Samuel "Chad" Patt, who is also the founder of Op Net. “Institutional risk desks do not care about the reason, they care about the precedent.”
