Nearly 7 Million Bitcoin is Sitting in a Quantum Minefield, Including Satoshi’s
About 6.7 million Bitcoin, including some potentially belonging to Satoshi, are in quantum-vulnerable addresses that cannot be patched.Summary
On-chain analysis from a Google Quantum AI whitepaper indicates that approximately 6.7 million Bitcoin are held in addresses vulnerable to future quantum computers capable of executing Shor's algorithm. The most exposed coins, estimated at 1.7 million BTC in Pay-to-Public-Key (P2PK) scripts, are from Bitcoin's earliest years (2009-2010) where public keys are permanently visible on the blockchain. Because these dormant addresses cannot migrate to post-quantum cryptography, they pose a fixed risk that grows as quantum hardware advances. The situation presents the community with difficult questions regarding the fate of these coins, with potential solutions ranging from protocol-level destruction to regulated recovery, termed "digital salvage."
(Source：BeInCrypto)