In today’s Morning Minute, written by Tyler Warner, we explore fresh developments in the cryptocurrency world and other intriguing stories. Note that these analyses reflect Warner’s views and not necessarily those of Decrypt.
Bitcoin developers have introduced a new quantum-proof strategy. On Tuesday, Casa CTO Jameson Lopp, alongside five collaborators, submitted BIP-361 to Bitcoin’s GitHub. This proposal outlines a three-phase approach to move funds from quantum-vulnerable addresses or risk freezing them on the network. Currently, about 34% of BTC is held in early Pay-to-Public-Key addresses with exposed public keys, including an estimated 1.1M BTC (~$74B) belonging to Satoshi Nakamoto. A sufficiently advanced quantum computer could potentially exploit these using Shor’s algorithm, a concern Google’s quantum team has highlighted for the year 2029.
The plan involves banning new transactions to legacy addresses, freezing all coins that haven’t been migrated, and subsequently offering ZK-proof recovery through BIP-39 seed. Lopp himself describes this as an initial concept and not immediately necessary, though he acknowledges the urgency due to advancing quantum technology.
In other news, World Liberty Financial (WLFI) is facing resistance after proposing a governance change. The proposal aims to unlock 62.3 billion tokens with vesting extending beyond Trump’s potential second term. Investors face a two-year cliff before linear vesting for early stakeholders; non-supporters risk indefinite locking of their tokens. Founders plan to burn 10% of their shares, with the remainder vesting over five years post-two-year cliff. This has been met with disapproval from WLFI holders, including Justin Sun.
Meanwhile, a former wool sneaker company for SF tech workers that once soared to $4B valuation before plummeting by 99%, is shifting focus to AI compute infrastructure under the new moniker NewBird AI. The stock surged from $2.49 to $17 intraday on Tuesday as part of its strategy to divest the Allbirds brand, valued at $39M, to American Exchange Group. Additionally, it secured a $50M convertible loan from an institutional investor to finance GPU hardware for leasing.
With AI’s growth trajectory in mind, some are drawing parallels between this move and past tech bubbles like pets.com.
Elon Musk is set to launch X Money this month, envisioned as peer-to-peer payments integrated into X with potential stablecoin features, ultimately aiming to supplant traditional banking. On Tuesday, Senator Warren demanded written responses from Musk by April 21 regarding FDIC insurance gaps, possible stablecoin issuance under the GENIUS Act, financial surveillance, data monetization, and whether his leadership at X inspires consumer confidence.
Warren, as the Senate Banking Committee’s ranking member, is part of the committee overseeing the Clarity Act markup this month. The simultaneous events include the X Money launch, a Warsh hearing, and an FOMC meeting, marking a particularly active April for Washington.