The BIP-361 proposal aims to safeguard up to 34% of Bitcoin’s total supply—equivalent to over 7 million coins worth roughly $536 billion—by freezing assets in non-quantum-resistant addresses. Despite its intentions, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson argues that it will still leave approximately 1.7 million BTC ($127 billion) exposed.
The multi-year strategy is divided into three phases: initially blocking inflows to vulnerable addresses, then freezing legacy coins, and finally attempting the recovery of any Bitcoin not moved by set deadlines. Hoskinson disputes this last phase’s feasibility, asserting that “That’s a lie,” as 1.7 million BTC would remain unrecoverable.
“It’s not possible,” he stated, noting that these vulnerable coins include all Bitcoins from 2013 and earlier, before the introduction of BIP-39 which brought seed phrases.
Notably, at least 1.1 million such coins belong to Satoshi Nakomoto, whose assets are estimated at $82 billion by Arkham Intelligence data. Despite his criticism, Hoskinson acknowledges the proposal’s merits: “I understand why they wrote it,” he said, highlighting that failure to act could lead to losses in the 2030s due to quantum computing threats.
The urgency of this issue has grown with discussions around “Q-Day,” a term for when quantum computers may crack Bitcoin’s cryptography. Google’s recent announcement of a 2029 deadline for transitioning its systems to post-quantum encryption underscores the immediacy of the threat.
Hoskinson also critiqued the Bitcoin community for its reluctance to innovate, contrasting it with other blockchain networks like Cardano and Ethereum that utilize on-chain governance. “If you had on-chain governance, you could solve it,” he noted, adding facetiously, “But we’re shitcoiners, we don’t have good ideas. Only you guys have good ideas.”