Charles Hoskinson attacks BIP-361, says Bitcoin's governance can't solve the quantum problem

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson releases a video attacking BIP-361, a proposed Bitcoin soft fork designed to freeze quantum-vulnerable funds and force migration to post-quantum addresses. Hoskinson argues the proposal is mischaracterized as a soft fork when it actually requires a hard fork, and would permanently lock 1.7 million BTC in legacy wallet formats predating the 2013 BIP-39 standard, including an estimated 1.1 million BTC belonging to Satoshi Nakamoto. He contends Bitcoin's lack of on-chain governance makes solving the quantum threat—projected for the 2030s and potentially affecting 8 million BTC—fundamentally impossible, while positioning Cardano's governance model as superior. The controversy highlights tensions between protecting Bitcoin from quantum computing attacks and preserving access to legacy coins, with institutional holders like BlackRock and MicroStrategy now holding significant stakes that create fiduciary pressures to act.

Quantum computing threat to Bitcoin's exposed public keys

• ▪P2PKH and P2WPKH outputs expose only a public-key hash until they are spent; Project Eleven's February 2026 estimate of 6.909 million quantum-vulnerable BTC combines address reuse with script types such as P2PK, P2TR, and P2MS that expose public keys directly
• ▪Approximately 8 million Bitcoin could be stolen by an attacker with a sufficiently powerful quantum computer
• ▪Charles Hoskinson places the quantum computing threat to Bitcoin arriving in the 2030s based on current research timelines
• ▪Eight million BTC is approximately 38.1% of Bitcoin’s 21 million maximum supply

Technical and governance flaws in BIP-361 proposal

• ▪An estimated 1.1 million Bitcoin belonging to Satoshi Nakamoto exist in legacy wallet formats that predate the BIP-39 standard
• ▪Approximately 1.7 million Bitcoin exist in legacy wallet formats that predate the BIP-39 standard and cannot be recovered by zero-knowledge proof
• ▪The BIP-361 zero-knowledge proof recovery system only works for wallets built on the BIP-39 seed phrase standard, which was introduced in 2013
• ▪Charles Hoskinson says BIP-361 would require a hard fork despite claiming to be a soft fork

Perspective of Charles Hoskinson

• ▪Charles Hoskinson tweets 'Have fun stealing Satoshi's coins' directly at supporters of BIP-361
• ▪Charles Hoskinson characterizes BIP-361 as misrepresented because it claims to be a soft fork while actually requiring a hard fork

Perspective of BIP-361 supporters

• ▪BIP-361 supporters frame the proposal as protecting the Bitcoin network from an 8 million BTC quantum theft that could crash the market
• ▪BIP-361 proponents argue freezing quantum-vulnerable funds is justified to prevent 8% to 10% of Bitcoin's supply from being stolen and dumped simultaneously