StarkWare reports the successful mining of the first quantum-resistant Bitcoin transaction on the mainnet.
The approach employs hash-based security mechanisms without requiring modifications to Bitcoin’s consensus rules.
Despite this milestone, StarkWare continues to advocate for a soft fork as the preferred long-term safeguard against quantum computing threats.
Starkware, the blockchain infrastructure firm responsible for the Ethereum layer-2 network Starknet, has announced that the first quantum-safe Bitcoin transaction has been successfully mined on the Bitcoin mainnet. This achievement demonstrates a method for shielding funds from potential quantum attacks without altering the network’s fundamental consensus rules.
In a Wednesday blog post, Starkware explained that the transaction utilized Quantum-Safe Bitcoin, or QSB, a technique conceived by Starkware researcher Avihu Levy. Levy initially published the research in April, and Starkware engineer Tomer Giladi subsequently assisted in transforming the proposal into a functional mainnet transaction.
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“A quantum-safe transaction was mined on the Bitcoin mainnet today that holds up against an adversary running a working quantum computer,” Starkware stated. “Bitcoin holders now have a way to move coins into storage a quantum computer cannot open.”
Bitcoin relies on elliptic-curve cryptography to secure transactions. A sufficiently powerful quantum computer executing Shor’s algorithm could theoretically compromise this system by deriving private keys and gaining unauthorized access to funds. Securing the network against such threats may eventually necessitate either a hard fork, which implements rules incompatible with older software and risks dividing the network, or a soft fork, which introduces new rules while maintaining compatibility with legacy nodes.
Starkware maintains that a soft fork represents the optimal long-term solution, while QSB offers a means of protecting individual holdings in the interim, without waiting for a comprehensive network upgrade.
“I still want Bitcoin to choose to do a soft fork and I expect we will get one,” Starkware CEO Eli Ben-Sasson remarked. “What today’s successful transaction offers Bitcoin is a reassurance that holdings can be protected before that happens.”
This issue has attracted increasing scrutiny as researchers evaluate which Bitcoin holdings might be most susceptible to future quantum attacks.
In June, Coinbase’s quantum advisory council projected that approximately 7 million Bitcoin could be at risk due to exposed public keys and address reuse.
According to Starkware, Quantum-Safe Bitcoin introduces an additional quantum-resistant layer based on hash functions rather than elliptic curves. The technique employs “signature grinding,” which involves off-chain computational effort to identify a transaction hash that the Bitcoin network will recognize as a valid signature format.
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Starkware acknowledged that QSB does not render the entire Bitcoin network quantum-safe; rather, it secures individual transactions through hash-based protection. The method cannot safeguard addresses with previously exposed public keys, and at present, it necessitates that transactions be submitted directly to miners.
“This amazing feat should not be viewed as a message saying ‘Bitcoin is prepared for the quantum threat.’ Far from it,” Ben-Sasson wrote on X.
“I hope whatever attention this brilliant work gets will also help folks hear loud and clear our message: Huston, we’ve got a problem, and the way to fix it should be to get serious about serious soft forks for [Bitcoin],” he added. “That’s how catastrophe can be avoided, and we still have time.”
