Quantum Computing Threats and Bitcoin: Should Coins Be Frozen?

Bitcoin’s safety is built on a type of math called ECDSA that current computers cannot crack. Some experts think that once powerful quantum machines exist, they could pull private keys from public ones once those public keys appear on the blockchain. If that happens, any coin whose public key is already known could be stolen. One of the biggest worries is a huge stash of coins that have sat unused for years. Roughly six million bitcoins could be exposed to this danger, and a lot of that sits in addresses that have never moved. Those coins could be worth billions, making them very tempting for attackers.A solution some people suggest is to lock those at‑risk coins in place, essentially making them unspendable. This would stop thieves but also lock away money that people might want to use in the future. Changing Bitcoin’s cryptography would require everyone on the network to agree, and history shows that major changes are hard to get consensus for. Beyond technology, the real challenge is whether the community will accept freezing coins. Bitcoin’s core rules emphasize that once a transaction happens, it cannot be undone. Freezing large amounts of money could break that rule and split users who disagree.