Bitcoin's quantum problem gets a recovery tool, but not for Satoshi's 1.1 million coins
For years people have been saying quantum computing threatens Bitcoin—this time CoinDesk specifically mentioned: even if there is a recovery tool, Satoshi’s 1 million BTC aren’t covered.
I actually think this point has been underestimated.
Everyone says, “Quantum computing is coming—Bitcoin is doomed.” But the reality is that the 1 million coins were mined by Satoshi in 2009, using the earliest ECDSA public key exposure format. If quantum machines really crack it, the first batch of coins that can be impacted is this one.
As for other later coins that were stored, the addresses are well hidden (using only a public key hash), and there’s a window for them to be migrated.
So this isn’t “Bitcoin is over.” It’s “Those 1 million coins might be the biggest landmine in the world.”
Who would touch it? Nobody knows. But this isn’t a technical issue—it's about how the whole market would react if that batch suddenly moved.
Nobody talks about this.
For years people have been saying quantum computing threatens Bitcoin—this time CoinDesk specifically mentioned: even if there is a recovery tool, Satoshi’s 1 million BTC aren’t covered.
I actually think this point has been underestimated.
Everyone says, “Quantum computing is coming—Bitcoin is doomed.” But the reality is that the 1 million coins were mined by Satoshi in 2009, using the earliest ECDSA public key exposure format. If quantum machines really crack it, the first batch of coins that can be impacted is this one.
As for other later coins that were stored, the addresses are well hidden (using only a public key hash), and there’s a window for them to be migrated.
So this isn’t “Bitcoin is over.” It’s “Those 1 million coins might be the biggest landmine in the world.”
Who would touch it? Nobody knows. But this isn’t a technical issue—it's about how the whole market would react if that batch suddenly moved.
Nobody talks about this.