Strategy, the world’s largest corporate holder of Bitcoin (BTC), has shared a message about Bitcoin’s future resistance to quantum computing attacks.
The company, co-founded by prominent Bitcoin advocate Michael Saylor, recently posted on X that the Bitcoin network can adopt new security measures when they are needed.
“Quantum-resistant upgrades can be adopted if & when it's needed,” wrote Strategy.
The comments come as the crypto industry debates whether advances in quantum computing could eventually threaten Bitcoin’s cryptographic security.
Bitcoin uses elliptic curve cryptography to secure transactions, and quantum computing could pose a significant threat to the network.
A sufficiently powerful quantum computer could potentially reverse-engineer private keys from exposed public keys, giving attackers access to the Bitcoin holdings linked to those keys.
There is currently no known publicly available quantum computer capable of breaking Bitcoin’s cryptography in this way.
Saylor’s past warning on quantum threat
Speaking at the World Bank in Washington in October, Saylor said the Bitcoin network could defend itself against any realistic quantum computing threat by coming together to upgrade its software.
Saylor estimated that such an upgrade would take about 90 days after worldwide consensus was reached on the need for quantum-resistant cryptography.
Saylor also cautioned against introducing new cryptography hastily, arguing that more complex security measures could introduce vulnerabilities of their own.
However, the 90-day estimate has faced scrutiny because a network-wide transition would require developers to agree on technical changes and Bitcoin users to move their funds to new, secure addresses.
Strategy has also begun efforts focused on research and development for Bitcoin’s long-term security.
In July, Strategy joined six other major financial institutions and crypto companies, including BlackRock and Coinbase, to form the Bitcoin Security Consortium.
The Bitcoin Security Consortium has committed $15 million over three years, with post-quantum cryptography among its areas of focus.
Bitcoin developers are already working on ways to address the quantum computing issue.
One of the most prominent proposals is Bitcoin Improvement Proposal 360 (BIP-360), which introduces a new type of transaction output called Pay-to-Merkle-Root (P2MR).
