Quantum computing is nearing reality, threatening nearly 7 million bitcoins worth around $440 billion. Satoshi Nakamoto’s 1 million coins, valued at about $67.6 billion, are among the most vulnerable. The Bitcoin community debates whether to freeze or intervene through protocol changes.
Some experts warn that recent research may accelerate the timeline for breaking current encryption. Others argue that the threat remains distant and can be addressed through engineering upgrades rather than drastic governance changes. The vulnerability is not uniform, as older coins with exposed public keys could be broken in a quantum attack.
Freezing vulnerable coins would challenge Bitcoin’s immutability, while allowing them to be swept would challenge its commitment to fairness. Interventions, such as burning or migrating at-risk coins, have sparked debate among the community. Some believe that upgrading cryptography and enabling voluntary migration is a better solution, while others think that freezing old coins would violate private key control.
The technical timeline for breaking current encryption systems remains contested. While some experts believe the threat may be closer than expected, others argue we should wait and see how research progresses. The question now is about governance, timing, and philosophy – will the Bitcoin community reach consensus before quantum computing becomes a real threat?
Source: https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/02/22/to-freeze-or-not-to-freeze-satoshi-and-the-usd440-billion-in-bitcoin-threatened-by-quantum-computing