Консенсус внутри сообщества: квантовые угрозы ставят под сомнение будущее биткоина Translation: Consensus within the community: quantum threats cast doubt on Bitcoins future.

The primary threat posed by quantum computing to the original cryptocurrency lies in the consensus issue rather than technological advancements. This was stated by James Chek, the founder of the analytics service Checkonchain.

According to the expert, network participants are unlikely to ever reach an agreement regarding the locking of coins on old addresses that are susceptible to quantum computers. Political disagreements will prevent the community from reacting promptly to this threat.

As a result, hackers may exploit longstanding inactive wallets, leading to a significant amount of what was thought to be lost Bitcoin reentering the market.

Chek’s comments were in response to remarks from the head of research at Delphi Digital, known by the pseudonym Ceteris Paribus. The latter pointed out that while achieving quantum resistance technically is feasible, it won’t resolve the fate of old coins. The core issue lies in the secondary nature of technologies compared to the social layer of the network.

According to BitBo, 32.4% of the total Bitcoin supply has remained stagnant for over five years, with 16.8% of coins not shifting for more than a decade. It remains uncertain how much of these funds are permanently lost versus being in long-term storage.

In April, Blockstream CEO Adam Back told Cointelegraph that the community would need to make a choice: disable old vulnerable addresses or allow malicious actors to steal funds. Chek believes it is better to let these coins «return to circulation.»

VanEck CEO Jan van Eck, in an interview with CNBC, remarked that despite the risks quantum computing poses to encryption and privacy, Bitcoin remains a solid investment at this time.

He emphasized that it is essential for those outside the industry to know that there is already an active discussion within the community regarding whether the current network protection is sufficient in light of emerging technologies.

Van Eck highlighted his firm’s pragmatic stance: they believe in digital gold but are prepared to «exit» the asset if they find its fundamental thesis compromised.

It is worth noting that in November, analyst Willy Woo suggested a method to protect Bitcoin from quantum threats.

Later, Back stated that systems capable of breaching the cryptography of the original cryptocurrency would not emerge for at least another 20 to 40 years.