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Door Remote - 14 Oct 2026
In brief
Coinbase, which says it custodies roughly 5% of all Bitcoin, urged developers to start preparing for the quantum threat now, warning that consensus changes and migration “can take years.”
It laid out technical requirements—backing a flexible “container” design like BIP-360, a staged “1-of-2” classical-plus-quantum spending path, and compatibility with the MPC key-splitting custodians rely on.
The exchange said dormant, lost, and Satoshi-era coins are a separate governance problem.
Coinbase is pressing Bitcoin’s developers to begin preparing for the quantum-computing threat before it’s too late, laying out a detailed technical wish list for how the network should harden itself and arguing the work can’t wait for certainty that a threat has arrived.
In a blog post published Tuesday, the exchange, which says it custodies roughly 5% of all Bitcoin in existence, framed the shift to quantum-resistant cryptography as a complex, multi-year undertaking that needs to start now.
Myriad: How low will Bitcoin go? Click to make your prediction.“Bitcoin consensus changes and ecosystem migrations can take years,” the company wrote, warning that waiting for the announcement of a cryptographically relevant quantum computer, the kind capable of breaking Bitcoin’s signatures, would leave too little time to respond.
The concern centers on how Bitcoin secures wallets. A sufficiently powerful quantum machine could, in theory, derive a private key from an exposed public key and drain the funds, a hypothetical milestone the industry calls “Q-Day.”
Coinbase stressed that a fix involves far more than picking a new signature scheme: any transition would need to protect both existing and newly created coins, fit Bitcoin’s limited block space, keep working for ordinary wallets and institutional custody alike, and offer a migration path for coins that never move.
BitcoinBTC · USD$81,277−1.76%24H7D1M1YYTDOct 8Oct 10Oct 11Oct 13Oct 15$84.2k$83.0k$81.8k$80.6k24h HighHigh$83,79124h LowLow$80,444VolVol$1.9BMarket projectionsOdds by MyriadThis weekBelow $82,000Below $82k62% chance→Buy Bitcoin with USDTPowered by Jupiter$50$100$500BuyPrice data by CoinGeckoCoinGeckoMore Bitcoin news and projections →The post reads less like a mandate than a set of requirements from one of the network’s largest stakeholders. Coinbase backed a flexible “container” design, pointing to proposals such as BIP-360, that would let new post-quantum signature systems be swapped in over time without a full redesign.
It also floated a staged “1-of-2” construction, letting the same funds be spent with either a classical key or a quantum-safe one during the transition. The company emphasized that whatever scheme Bitcoin adopts should be compatible with multi-party computation, the key-splitting technique custodians like Coinbase rely on to guard against theft.
Thornier still is the question of dormant, lost, or exposed coins, including Satoshi-era holdings, which Coinbase said should be treated as a separate governance problem. It cautioned that any rescue mechanism must itself be quantum-safe, so an attacker who only knows an exposed public key couldn’t exploit it.
The push builds on Coinbase’s steady drumbeat of quantum warnings.
The exchange convened a quantum advisory board in January o study the risks and develop precisely the sort of guidance it offered this week. The company also joined a Bitcoin Security Consortium in July alongside BlackRock and Strategy, pledging a combined $15 million toward quantum-proofing Bitcoin.
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Coinbase, which says it custodies roughly 5% of all Bitcoin, urged developers to start preparing for the quantum threat now, warning that consensus changes and migration “can take years.”
It laid out technical requirements—backing a flexible “container” design like BIP-360, a staged “1-of-2” classical-plus-quantum spending path, and compatibility with the MPC key-splitting custodians rely on.
The exchange said dormant, lost, and Satoshi-era coins are a separate governance problem.
Coinbase is pressing Bitcoin’s developers to begin preparing for the quantum-computing threat before it’s too late, laying out a detailed technical wish list for how the network should harden itself and arguing the work can’t wait for certainty that a threat has arrived.
In a blog post published Tuesday, the exchange, which says it custodies roughly 5% of all Bitcoin in existence, framed the shift to quantum-resistant cryptography as a complex, multi-year undertaking that needs to start now.
Myriad: How low will Bitcoin go? Click to make your prediction.“Bitcoin consensus changes and ecosystem migrations can take years,” the company wrote, warning that waiting for the announcement of a cryptographically relevant quantum computer, the kind capable of breaking Bitcoin’s signatures, would leave too little time to respond.
The concern centers on how Bitcoin secures wallets. A sufficiently powerful quantum machine could, in theory, derive a private key from an exposed public key and drain the funds, a hypothetical milestone the industry calls “Q-Day.”
Coinbase stressed that a fix involves far more than picking a new signature scheme: any transition would need to protect both existing and newly created coins, fit Bitcoin’s limited block space, keep working for ordinary wallets and institutional custody alike, and offer a migration path for coins that never move.
BitcoinBTC · USD$81,277−1.76%24H7D1M1YYTDOct 8Oct 10Oct 11Oct 13Oct 15$84.2k$83.0k$81.8k$80.6k24h HighHigh$83,79124h LowLow$80,444VolVol$1.9BMarket projectionsOdds by MyriadThis weekBelow $82,000Below $82k62% chance→Buy Bitcoin with USDTPowered by Jupiter$50$100$500BuyPrice data by CoinGeckoCoinGeckoMore Bitcoin news and projections →The post reads less like a mandate than a set of requirements from one of the network’s largest stakeholders. Coinbase backed a flexible “container” design, pointing to proposals such as BIP-360, that would let new post-quantum signature systems be swapped in over time without a full redesign.
It also floated a staged “1-of-2” construction, letting the same funds be spent with either a classical key or a quantum-safe one during the transition. The company emphasized that whatever scheme Bitcoin adopts should be compatible with multi-party computation, the key-splitting technique custodians like Coinbase rely on to guard against theft.
Thornier still is the question of dormant, lost, or exposed coins, including Satoshi-era holdings, which Coinbase said should be treated as a separate governance problem. It cautioned that any rescue mechanism must itself be quantum-safe, so an attacker who only knows an exposed public key couldn’t exploit it.
The push builds on Coinbase’s steady drumbeat of quantum warnings.
The exchange convened a quantum advisory board in January o study the risks and develop precisely the sort of guidance it offered this week. The company also joined a Bitcoin Security Consortium in July alongside BlackRock and Strategy, pledging a combined $15 million toward quantum-proofing Bitcoin.
Daily Debrief NewsletterStart every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.
Email addressJoin freeJoin 72,000+ readers
Create an account to save your articles.Add on GoogleAdd Decrypt as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.