Reminder that I attempted to exhaustively game out the arguments for and against freezing quantum vulnerable bitcoin 9 months ago. The latest round of debate seems to just be rehashing the same arguments, but if I missed any novel points, please let me know!

Replies (126)

The science of quantum computing is far from settled, but from my perspective the game theory of this scenario is settled. Feel free to contribute novel perspectives that could alter the game!
It's unknowable. I don't think it can be proven or disproven. All we can know is what level of effort has been expended in trying to achieve it.
Calling for a quantum fork TODAY would clearly be contentious. Everything I'm proposing is PLANNING so that we have well thought out options to choose from in the future IF quantum computing progresses to the point of being a real concern.
if we want to plan, we need to give the free market the ability to CHOOSE whether they go to quantum resistant addresses or not. there is no scenario where the network should freeze someone else’s coins. it’s absolute nonsense and destroys bitcoin’s fundamental value, which you seem keen on doing.
In terms of number of humans, maybe. In terms of economic majority of holding entities, I point you to Saylor as a prime example of how I expect whales to act.
They would remain frozen until a transaction with a signature that is accompanied with an appropriate ZK proof is broadcast.
who decides whether a quantum threat is “imminent?” why should anyone trust an “altruistic” actor to destroy someone’s property rights before a quantum computer does? how do you know coins are lost or if someone has chosen not to move to quantum resistant addresses? I’m sorry but I’m not falling for this bullshit where the network gives away its rights under the guise of an altruistic actor. It sets a dangerous precedent. In the future, what “attacks” will be deemed serious enough to again infringe on property rights? bitcoin’s fundamental value comes from the fact that the network cannot under any circumstance freeze your funds. If I choose not to go to quantum resistant addresses, and a quantum computer cracks my keys, that’s on me and it was my choice. This all stinks of bullshit from someone that wants to infringe on property rights.
Jameson I just don’t get it… I don’t understand how you can both claim Libertarian values and advocate for this… If pre-Segwit coins are coerced into following a chain with zkp that is not backward compatibility Now I could be potentially misinterpreting what you’re advocating here and I will willingly concede if so… but since this is a theoretical conversation there’s way for me to verify However, my intuitive understanding of pre-segwit signing schemes is pretty hardwired and so when I run through this scenario in my mind I don’t understand you
What if you can proof you could sign before a particular block height?
Corey Santa Diego's avatar Corey Santa Diego
Question and idea: QC doesnt put bitcoins historical blockchain at risk right? So if someone creates an OTS proof they own the coins now (I.e. OTS stamping the hash of a signed txn that is never broadcasted), could there be a pathway for spending vulnerable coins post QC if they can produce an OTS proof that existed prior to QC?
View quoted note →
You are 100% correct. Brute force guessing of private keys has always been and will always be a possibility. Once we allow this to be justification for stealing (aka freezing) coins, Bitcoin will cease to provide any assurance of property ownership. Your coins will only be secure as long as the anointed high priests of Bitcoin core say so.
21seasons's avatar
21seasons 1 week ago
Think about this from the physical perspective. Some (even Satosi) have said that bitcoin is a bit like digital gold. Freezing quantum vulnerable coins basically means that, if you do the hard work and find a long time ago lost gold treasure, and then you don't get to keep it and it will be destroyed. That's quite insane. We should use effort to develop more quantum safety measures and teach people how to use them, but freezing other people's coins just to "protect' them is not the way to go imo.
Couldn’t agree more. Property rights are sacred. Seems to me there are more and more conversations in Bitcoin that propose a violation of such rights. As Bitcoin matures and grows, the frequency of people who wish to violate property rights will likely grow as well. We must always stand up for what’s right.
Of course that Jameson Slopp who is a bad actor, evil shitcoiner and manipulator is trying to manipulate you again by saying he presents both cases but he clearly is in favor of stealing / freezing the coins. image
We need to freeze Satoshis Bitcoin to stop someone getting rich if they hack him!!! Yeah um, if quantum computing is a threat to Bitcoin, it's a threat to the entire financial system, all cryptography etc. In which case none of it matters. You're proposing seizing and freezing people's Bitcoin over a fake threat which if it was real would be a bigger threat to everything else anyway.
How does stealing people's Bitcoin prevent a fake threat? A threat that if it was real would also destroy the entire financial industry anyway. If you're worried about quantum computing being a threat to Bitcoin maybe you should start gardening because there will be food shortages if that happens when farmers can't be paid dollars to buy fuel for their tractors etc.
How is it possible for you to be on the wrong side of EVERY issue in Bitcoin Lopp? Ok, let’s try something: chocolate or vanilla?
No one can be coerced into anything. It's all voluntary. If an economic supermajority decides they no longer wish to accept transactions that could be a quantum adversary, they are free to do so.
Your son is a ketamine addict that shitposts on twitter 18 hours a day mam. Nobody likes him, his fans are all bots.
Every individual node operator decides for themselves which rules they accept. Beyond that, what rules become "Bitcoin" in practice are whatever subset of rules have the overwhelming majority of economic actors enforcing them.
Planning as a word is contentious and raising hackles. Discussing possible responses isnt contentious. We're a long way from planning stages. That's for when you want to get detailed on a particular proposal that's arisen through discussion.
There has never been a single instance of quantum compute without classical intervention - massively parallel classical compute is not equivalent to quantum compute You made up a theoretical adversary to exploit people’s ignorance to push zkps to mimic other chains that scale differently… just be honest
“Let’s say we are bad actors, what are you going to do to stop us?” Says the Eth Laser Eye shitcoiner. Go run Citrea on ETH, or ₿ Cash. Shill’s gonna shill. Slopp would make Core a private business if he could. We need some better implementations. This ain’t gonna cut it.
Yes, a quantum adversary is theoretical, but it's catastrophic if it becomes practical. ZKPs are an afterthought, I haven't even explored it deeply. If you have an alternative proposal for how to construct a proof of HD wallet ownership that doesn't require broadcasting the xpub globally and exposing it to quantum adversaries, I'm all ears. FYI, accusing someone of having underhanded motives is not a great tactic for progressing constructive rational discourse.
A natural consequence of building a huge audience is that some of them will hate you as a result of your words or actions. Some people hating me doesn't bother me in the slightest. Bitcoin is for anyone, though it's clearly not for everyone, nor does it operate via any known governance model. If you're bothered by the power distribution of entities in Bitcoin, you're always free to leave.
😂 Just tell them to stay humble and stack sats to diffuse them.
There are no quantum adversaries lol what if a black hole opens up and swallows us all whole and we’re spit out into another multiverse? That’s as relevant to this conversation as what you are suggesting I’m not assuming underhanded motives… this is public information Are you not funded by the same people who have aligned interests as Palantir? Did those folks not initially invest in opencoin? Did those same wallets not fund the development of XRP and other coins that are considered quantum secure? You brought up ZKPs I didn’t
frphank's avatar
frphank 1 week ago
I wonder why Bitcoin has so little uptake.
frphank's avatar
frphank 1 week ago
Sounds like a democracy in which human votes are counted.
frphank's avatar
frphank 1 week ago
Saylor is no economic entity, he produces nothing and renders no services. My barber around the corner has more economic activity than Saylor.
There are no quantum adversaries YET, but I literally talked to some of the most likely future ones at the quantum summit this year. You'll need to be more specific regarding your conspiratorial questions. I'm not personally funded by anyone, rather I am a funder of dozens of companies and organizations. Casa has been funded by several VC firms over the years, but they don't tell us what to do nor do my Casa duties have much relation to my Bitcoin ecosystem projects.
Yes, I’m the conspiracy theorist here 😂 alrighty go get paid off by IBM and verus coins of the past a little harder 👋
The evil shitcoiner and manipulator Slopp strucks again. Plebs who consider Bitcoin Freedom Money and not a spam dump are brainwashed? Thats not true of course, they are not brainwashed. As for economic market share, Saylor is not in favor of spam and jpegs on Bitcoin.
Admittedly, I am a mid-brain just beginning to get into this stuff. But from what I hear the number of workable qubits is growing very quickly, and that is accelerating. The implication of that is that instead of looping for eons to find a solution to a problem all possible solutions within that qubit space can be attempted, basically simultaneously. This seems to reduce the probability that doing nothing is a workable strategy. I don’t have an informed opinion for how Bitcoin needs to solve this. But it seems clear to me that (without wanting to sound alarmist), we do need to work on this … very soon.
God has no sons 🌍 The concept of God is summarized in the Quran as: 📖 { “Say, He is God, the One. God, the Absolute. He does not give birth, nor was He born, and there is nothing like Him.”} (Quran 112:1-4) 📚
You should present your proof of this claim to the world so that we can save countless time and resources.
woodMiner's avatar
woodMiner 1 week ago
I read the article, I read the BIP. I am trying to think through this rationally and not jump to any conclusions one way or another. Can you elaborate on one thing for me? It looks, from my reading, that the biggest argument for freezing / burning / whatever the "vulnerable" coins is because if they come to market they will have a negative price impact. Am I interpreting this correctly?
That's one major issue. Other issues are incentivizing procrastinators to upgrade their security, plus protecting users from losing their coins to an attacker.
Matt Corallo's avatar Matt Corallo
I believe you missed that disallowing “Quantum Recovery” is required in order to allow a majority of coins to be recovered by their rightful owners! We can allow people to spend funds if they can prove that they were built using a seedphrase and they know the seedphrase, but this only works if vulnerable spend paths are prevented!
View quoted note →
Your asking me to prove a negative and you quantum believers are the ones who lack proof. You want to invest in my perpetual motion machine? Prove I can't build one. Don't trust, verify. We can talk about quantum resistance when the first shor pops. We will have plenty of time before they can make it economically scalable, if that ever happens, which it won't, because that's not how the universe works.
I'm not a quantum "believer" - it sounds to me like you admit that it can neither be proven nor disproven. Thus claiming it's impossible is just as much bullshit as claiming it's inevitable.
Your nfts will be worthless. Nobody wants your garbage on the chain, you're worse than core. Your node client is a direct attack on Bitcoin. Fortunately it makes up less than 1% of the network.
The difference is that I am not advocating a drastic, risky, insecure modification to the Bitcoin network based on my opinion. I think the burden of proving it IS possible is on you. Since you agree that your position is unfalsifiable bullshit, let's do nothing for now
Why should I be more worried about algorithmic breakthroughs for quantum computers than for classical computers?
Everyone must trust this "expert". He is expert on everything, mostly on shitcoins.
No, I thought it was blindingly obvious that if you intend to sell your coins in order to protest a mandatory migration, you'd need to send them to an exchange BEFORE the migration deadline.
there is nothing wrong with mimicking a good enhancement that occurred on another chain. this idea that it's impossible for another chain to come up with something good before bitcoin does is a totally recent maxi derangement. mimicking good enhancements was the original basis of bitcoin maximalism. not invented here syndrome is prideful obstructionism.
In a Pascal's wager sort of sense. The thing is, for this to work, it'd have to be done BEFORE a quantum threat arises. And it never may. But let's just assume we need to operate like it will for fear of the theoretical repecussions however unfounded they are. At least the thief is honest about what they are. You have the audacity to suggest your theft is somehow justified.
I am. Planning to buy some cheap sats when some treasure hunters show up. And then planning to be sad when it ends faster than anyone expected because they can only be compromised once. Maybe we should freeze Coinbase's coins too as it's only a matter of time before they end up with governance that causes them to blow up, and they hold keys to a huge chunk of the network.
So what I am hearing is. Wall Street determines the will of the Bitcoin network? I thought become meant freedom and free from coercion.
Wall Street will effectively control Bitcoin if everybody gives their bitcoin to wall street. It remains to be seen if that becomes the case. I'd say it's not looking great.