Steal Bitcoin, Lose Your Own BTC? Developer Floats Three Defenses Against Quantum Attacks

Bitcoin developer Cory Fields, who works on Bitcoin software at MIT’s Digital Currency Initiative, posted three proposals to the Bitcoin development mailing list for making quantum attackers lose their own bitcoin if they steal vulnerable coins. The ideas use collateral, time locks and auctions: Quantum Landmines would require a thief to move stolen coins with equivalent quantum-safe collateral locked for a set period unless the original owner proves prior knowledge, while Staked Auction relies on advance stakes and Sats Auction on post-time-lock auctions. Fields said a soft fork might implement the ideas, but collateral ratios, auction rules and recovered-fund distribution remain unresolved. Last month Alice & Bob estimated 29,588 cat qubits could crack a private key in about 62 minutes.