Analysis: Quantum computing threatens Bitcoin security; experts disagree on the risk to 7 million BTC.

PANews reported on February 23 that with the development of quantum computing technology, approximately 7 million Bitcoins (worth about $440 billion), including Satoshi Nakamoto's 1 million BTC, may be at risk due to the vulnerability of their encryption. Zeynep Koruturk, a partner at Firgun Ventures, stated that recent research shows the time required to crack RSA-2048 may be shortened to 2-3 years, potentially accelerating the threat to elliptic curve cryptography.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino believes that allowing vulnerable old coins to circulate again is better than changing the consensus rules; Digital Citizen Fund CEO Roya Mahboob, on the other hand, emphasizes that freezing old addresses would undermine Bitcoin's immutability, and supporters should upgrade encryption technology to address the threat.

Meanwhile, Jameson Lopp suggested migrating vulnerable tokens to quantum-resistant addresses via a soft fork to prevent wealth redistribution by quantum attackers. OP_NET co-founder Frederic Fosco, however, believes the quantum threat is an engineering problem solvable through technological upgrades and should not be a cause for excessive concern.