Overview
- Fidelity Digital Assets published a report on Tuesday that concludes soft-fork upgrades can make Bitcoin resistant to future quantum attacks but will require coordinated action across the network.
- The report reiterates that no Cryptographically Relevant Quantum Computers currently exist so the threat is theoretical today but worth planning for.
- Technical options such as Blockstream’s SHRINCS hybrid use hash-based signatures that work but produce much larger signatures that increase per-transaction blockspace and could slow throughput or raise fees.
- A stateful SHRINCS path cuts signature size but forces wallets and devices to track one-time key use which risks user funds if that state is lost, while a stateless fallback is far larger and more costly on-chain.
- Industry groups have begun funding research into these changes, with the Bitcoin Security Consortium and an estimated $15 million program backing studies and coordination ahead of any protocol decision.