TL;DR
- A StarkWare researcher has published a scheme that provides quantum-safe Bitcoin transactions without requiring a soft fork
- The method works within existing consensus rules but costs an estimated 200 dollars per transaction
- BIP-360, the official quantum-resistant upgrade plan, is still in draft phase and could take 7 years to fully implement
- Around 6.9 million BTC with exposed public keys are considered vulnerable to quantum computer attacks
Emergency Solution Without Protocol Change
A new research paper from an employee at ZK-proof company StarkWare describes a technique that makes it possible to protect Bitcoin transactions against quantum computers – and without the network needing to undergo a soft fork. The solution operates within Bitcoin's existing consensus rules, which theoretically makes it immediately available, according to CoinDesk.
The catch is the cost: each transaction using the scheme is estimated to cost around 200 dollars. This makes the method impractical for daily use but could serve as an emergency valve for large values while the formal upgrade process is underway.
BIP-360: The Official Answer Still Awaits
The structured response to the quantum threat is called BIP-360, a Bitcoin Improvement Proposal that introduces a new transaction type called Pay-to-Merkle-Root (P2MR). The proposal was formally added to Bitcoin's BIP repository on GitHub on February 11, 2026, and has the status of "draft".
BIP-360 was originally launched by Hunter Beast in June 2024 under the working name "Pay to Quantum Resistant Hash" (P2QRH), and is today co-authored by cryptography researchers Ethan Heilman and Isabel Foxen Duke. The core of the proposal is to remove the so-called "key-path spend" mechanism that exposes public keys on the blockchain – the primary vulnerability a quantum computer could exploit using Shor's algorithm.
Timeline of Up to Seven Years
Co-author Ethan Heilman estimates that in an optimistic scenario, Bitcoin could achieve full quantum resistance in about seven years. He breaks it down to TradingView as follows: approximately 2.5 years for BIP development, code review, and testing, half a year for activation, and then up to five years for 90 percent of wallets, exchanges, and custodial solutions to actually update their systems.
Heilman emphasizes that this is a "rough estimate" and that a perceived threat could accelerate the process. Historically, Bitcoin protocol updates have moved slowly: SegWit took about 8.5 years from idea to adoption, and Taproot took 7.5 years.
What is the Real Threat?
Opinions in the crypto community vary. According to research material, Google has set 2029 as a possible year when current cryptography could become vulnerable. A recent Google report reportedly showed an 80 percent reduction in the number of qubits needed to break elliptic curve cryptography – which, according to the same source, could shorten the attack timeline to as little as three years.
On the other hand, Blockstream CEO Adam Back has repeatedly argued that the quantum threat to Bitcoin is "decades away," and Jan3 CEO Samson Mow has publicly dismissed the notion that today's quantum machines can compromise the network.
What is not disputed is the extent of potential damage: around 6.9 million BTC – including an estimated 1.1 million BTC attributed to Satoshi Nakamoto in P2PK addresses – have public keys that are permanently visible on the chain. This constitutes an exposure window if quantum technology matures faster than expected.
Signature Size is a Real Problem
Full quantum security requires more than BIP-360 alone. Post-quantum signature algorithms like SPHINCS+ generate signatures over 8 kilobytes – compared to today's 64 bytes for Bitcoin's current scheme. This will have direct consequences for block space economics and may require further protocol changes that are not yet planned.
The StarkWare researcher's new method can therefore be read as a pragmatic compromise: not perfect, not cheap, but possible to roll out now – while the long-term solution is being developed within the notoriously patient Bitcoin community.
