Bitcoin developers discuss post-quantum security and migration strategies

Coinbase is urging Bitcoin developers and service providers to begin post-quantum planning, noting that protocol changes and wallet migrations could take several years to implement. The initiative aims to prepare for a future where quantum computers might be capable of deriving private keys from publicly exposed keys to authorize unauthorized transactions.

During a workshop hosted by Coinbase, Stanford, and Localhost Research, experts discussed various technical approaches. While no consensus was reached on a specific method, discussions included draft proposals like BIP 360, which suggests adding a Pay-to-Merkle-Root output to reduce exposure to certain quantum attacks. However, such proposals do not currently introduce a full post-quantum signature scheme.

Currently, Bitcoin has no activated post-quantum migration, no published deadline, and no fixed migration fees. The immediate risk focuses on the current ECDSA and Schnorr spending models, particularly for outputs where public keys have already appeared on-chain. If an upgrade is eventually activated, moving coins would likely involve standard transactions to new post-quantum outputs, with costs determined by network fees.