Bitcoin’s Quantum Booby-Trap
Cory Fields, who works on Bitcoin software at MIT’s Digital Currency Initiative, posted three “thought experiments” to the Bitcoin development mailing list on 4 November for handling coins vulnerable to future quantum computers — led by “quantum landmines,” under which a thief spending stolen coins must post equal quantum-safe collateral that the original owner can claim. Fields said implementation through a soft fork “could be possible,” with key design questions unresolved.
Quantum Landmines: turning theft into a trap
Cory Fields, a developer at MIT’s Digital Currency Initiative, floated something clever this week: let Bitcoin holders quietly plant a cryptographic booby-trap on their coins before quantum computers can crack today’s encryption. Steal the coins later and try to spend them, and the thief has to lock up an equal pile of their own quantum-safe bitcoin as collateral. The real owner, holding secret proof, claims it.
Turn theft into a losing bet. Lovely idea. It’s one of three he posted — the others cover coins whose owners are long gone.
But he calls them thought experiments, and they need a soft fork — a coordinated rule change — to work. Bitcoin can’t even agree on four uncontested bug fixes yet. The earliest estimate for those is late 2027.
The defence exists on paper. The machinery to ship it doesn’t. That gap is the whole problem.
Related storylines
- Bitcoin quantum threat responseBitcoin quantum threat response — cryptographic defenses implementation
1 source
- Steal Bitcoin, Lose Your Own BTC? Developer Floats Three Defenses Against Quantum Attacks · cryptopotato.com · T2