BTQ Technologies released Bitcoin Quantum testnet v0.3.0, the first working implementation of Bitcoin Improvement Proposal 360, which introduces quantum-resistant Pay-to-Merkle-Root (P2MR) transaction outputs using SegWit version 2 and five Dilithium post-quantum signature opcodes. BIP-360 addresses quantum vulnerabilities in Taproot's key-path spend mechanism by committing directly to script tree Merkle roots without relying on internal keys. The testnet has attracted over 50 miners, mined more than 100,000 blocks, and assembled a community of over 100 cryptographers and developers. BTQ Technologies plans to operate a mining pool with a 3% fee expected to accumulate approximately 100,000 BTQ tokens in twelve months. The development comes as U.S. federal agencies face an April 2026 deadline for post-quantum cryptography transition plans under NSM-10, though a May 2025 Chaincode Labs analysis noted Bitcoin post-quantum initiatives remain at an early exploratory stage.
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