Could quantum computing threaten Satoshi Nakamoto’s 1 million bitcoins?

Concerns about the security of Bitcoin’s initial transaction format have reignited debate over the fate of Satoshi Nakamoto’s 1 million BTC as advances in quantum computing pose a potential threat to the cryptocurrency.

Should the Bitcoin (BTC) creator freeze 1 million coins to prevent abuse? This question is on the minds of some in the cryptocurrency community as quantum computing development accelerates.

These concerns arise due to vulnerabilities in Pay-to-Public Key (P2PK), Bitcoin’s initial transaction format that exposes public keys on the blockchain.

Unlike modern pay-to-public-key-hash (P2PKH) outputs, early P2PK transactions can potentially be leveraged by quantum computers that can derive the private key from the public key, according to Emir Sirer, founder and CEO of Ava Labs. there is.

While some believe that freezing Satoshi’s coins is a necessary precaution, others argue that it undermines BTC’s principles of decentralization and immutability. Either way, Satoshi’s 1 million BTC presents a high-value target for quantum attackers who could upend the market.

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Are your coins vulnerable?

Satoshi’s BTC resides in the original P2PK output, a transaction format that is no longer commonly used because it exposes the owner’s public key.

Since the introduction of P2PKH, a format that hides public keys behind a hash until the coins run out, using quantum computing for hacking has become much more complex than just attacking unprotected public keys.

The vulnerability of P2PK output to quantum threats is not yet an issue. But that may be the case in the future as quantum computing advances and quantum attacks become a viable option for hackers.

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Satoshi’s 1 million BTC frozen

Satoshi’s ability to freeze holdings involves changing BTC’s consensus rules to make certain unspent transaction outputs (UTXOs) unusable.

The process requires developers to draft a Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP), clearly identify vulnerable P2PK outputs through Saoshi, and confirm approval to enforce the freeze.

Once approved, the freeze function is optional for the nodes, but can be done either through a consensus-driven soft fork, or a hard fork that completely overhauls the underlying code of the BTC blockchain.

While this is technically possible, freezing coins associated with Satoshi would require broad community consensus, something that has historically been difficult for BTC.

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Meaning of freezing Satoshi shares

Freezing Satoshi’s holdings raises important questions that challenge the spirit behind the creation of the cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin was designed to be an immutable ledger where no entity can change the history of the network, but if reserves are frozen through a fork, this basic principle is contradicted, opening the door to future intervention and disrupting the decentralization of the Bitcoin blockchain. There is a possibility.

Supporters argue that Satoshi’s coin is a unique case and could be considered an exception due to public key exposure and the impact it could have on the broader cryptocurrency market.

With advances in quantum computing and the possibility of a quantum attack on the 1 million BTC mother lode, could such an event lead to Satoshi revealing himself?

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