It may take a decade to move BTC to post-quantum levels: Crypto exec

Bitcoin (BTC)'s transition to post-quantum levels will take at least 5-10 years, according to James Lopp, Bitcoin Core developer and founder of crypto holding company Casa, who weighed in on the ongoing quantum computing debate.

Lopp agreed with Adam Back, CEO of crypto infrastructure company Blockstream, that there is no imminent threat to Bitcoin from quantum computers. Lopp said on the X-Post.

“Quantum computers are not going to break Bitcoin anytime soon. We will continue to watch their evolution. However, it may take 5 to 10 years to make thoughtful changes to the protocol and create unprecedented cash flow.”

We should hope for the best but prepare for the worst,” he added. In a separate post, he said the Bitcoin protocol is more challenging than centralized software to upgrade to post-quantum standards due to its distributed consensus model.

The debate over quantum risk and solutions continues to be a hot topic in the Bitcoin community, with a partnership between Bitcoin maximalists, who are wary of changes to the protocol, and quantum capitalists (VCs), who say quantum risk is inevitable.

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“Quantum resistance solutions are affordable enough to be supported by non-profits and VCs,” said Pierre Rochard, senior bitcoin expert.

Rochard added that attacking Bitcoin with quantum computers would be so expensive that the government would be forced to “subsidize it as a collective action problem.”

Samson Mou, CEO of Bitcoin investor and wallet company and advocacy group JAN3, has also raised doubts about the quantum computer's ability to break Bitcoin's security.

“Actually, quantum computers can't do 21 numbers – 21 million – 21 if they can't do a lot of optimization for their algorithms,” Mou said.

Despite this, venture capitalists and other investment firms warn that the price of BTC is being affected by the risk or threat from quantum computers.

According to Charles Edwards, founder of digital asset investment fund Capriole, if the protocol is not quantized by 2028, the price of BTC could drop below $50,000.

Edwards called on Bitcoin node operators to implement Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) 360, which introduces a quantum-ready signature scheme for BTC.

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