Coinbase, which safeguards 5% of all Bitcoin for clients including banks, asset managers, and hedge funds, is calling on the network to begin preparing for quantum security. A sufficiently powerful quantum computer could derive a private key from an exposed public key, compromising Bitcoin’s ECDSA and Schnorr signatures; Google researchers project such a machine could exist by 2029. Coinbase advocates a staged approach with flexible outputs allowing post-quantum signatures to be added without rebuilding the transaction system, and wants solutions compatible with multiparty computation for institutions. The company does not take a position on the treatment of dormant or lost Bitcoin, arguing that this debate should not delay technical protection work for users capable of migrating.
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