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Timeline for Post-Quantum Migration According to analysis by Chaincode Labs, Bitcoin’s transition to post-quantum cryptography (PQC) can follow two main strategies: a short-term contingency plan (cf. Figure 1) and a long-term comprehensive path (cf. Figure 2). The short-term strategy focuses on deploying a basic quantum-resistant option within 1 to 2 years, offering a fallback mechanism in case cryptographically relevant quantum computers (CRQCs) emerge sooner than expected. This involves proposing a minimal PQC signature scheme through a BIP, implementing it in Bitcoin Core, and enabling voluntary migration of vulnerable UTXOs. While not optimized for all use cases, it provides immediate protection for at-risk users and critical institutions. Success depends on close coordination across the technical community and early involvement from major Bitcoin holders. ...

Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) Post-Quantum Cryptography has become a critical solution to counter the threat posed by scalable, controllable quantum computers to current cryptographic systems. Urgency of PQC: Originates from Peter Shor’s 1995 algorithm, which can factor integers and compute discrete logarithms in polynomial time, effectively breaking mainstream schemes like RSA, DH, and ECC. PQC is not a single algorithm, but a set of parallel technical approaches, including: Lattice-based cryptography: The most promising category with well-established theoretical foundations; ...

Bitcoin’s Security and the Threat from Quantum Computing Bitcoin’s security relies on a cryptographic assumption that has long been considered unbreakable under current technological conditions. However, the emergence of quantum computers could undermine this assumption within the next decade. At the core of Bitcoin’s cryptographic foundation are: the Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA); and, since 2021, the introduction of Schnorr signatures. Both schemes are based on the Elliptic Curve Discrete Logarithm Problem (ECDLP), which is asymmetric in nature: deriving the public key from a private key is easy, but reversing the process is believed to require trillions of years even on today’s most powerful supercomputers. However, in the face of cryptographically relevant quantum computers (CRQCs), this asymmetry may collapse — deriving the private key from the public key could take only hours or days. ...

❓What is Quantum Computing? Quantum computing harnesses the quantum states of microscopic particles—such as photons, electrons, or atoms—to process information. It is fundamentally based on several key principles: superposition, entanglement, coherence, and the no-cloning theorem. As early as 1982, Professor Richard Feynman famously stated: “Nature isn’t classical, damn it, and if you want to make a simulation of nature, you’d better make it quantum mechanical.” This insight laid the conceptual foundation for building computational tools using quantum systems themselves, rather than relying on classical approximations of quantum behavior. ...

Throughout the evolution of human civilization, the pursuit of computational power has never ceased. From $\underline{mechanical ~computation}$ to $\underline{electronic ~computation}$, we now stand at the dawn of a new era — $\mathbf{on ~the ~verge ~of ~quantum ~computing. }$ The core breakthrough of quantum computing does not lie in macro-level advancements such as “faster” transistors or “stronger” chips, but rather in a paradigm shift from macro to micro: it no longer relies on the classical binary of 0 and 1 but leverages the peculiar properties of quantum superposition and entanglement at the particle level to build $\underline{an ~entirely ~new ~computational ~logic}$. This logic cannot be simulated by traditional electronic computers, much like nuclear weapons cannot be replicated with chemical explosives—their energies are simply not on the same scale. ...