Two antidotes to quantum panic: one is a safety net, the other is emergency rescue

Written by: Coach Liu

Overnight BTC dropped again.
The market is still struggling around 71k, with various panic emotions spreading.
And every time the market dips, someone pulls out the old actor quantum computers,
along with Google’s set deadline for quantum-resistant migration in 2029,
to stir up a new wave of anxiety marketing in the crypto world.

But this time, there’s a new development.

On April 12, Decrypt reported on a latest study.
Researchers presented two antidotes at once, targeting two so-called vulnerabilities of quantum threats.
And most importantly — both don’t require hard forks.

After reading this report, my first reaction was:
Quantum panic, you can take a break now.

First, understand what these two vulnerabilities actually are.

Before discussing the antidotes, we need to understand the problem.
There are two core arguments behind the quantum threat FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt):

Vulnerability One: Public keys are exposed during transactions.

Bitcoin’s P2PKH addresses store the hash of the public key, like an envelope.
When receiving money, the envelope is sealed, and outsiders can’t see the public key inside.
But when you spend, you must tear open the envelope, reveal the full public key, and add a signature to prove the money is yours.

The problem is, once the public key is revealed, it stays on the blockchain forever.
Quantum computers are still far away, but they can slowly compute against this exposed public key,
and one day reverse-engineer your private key.

Vulnerability Two: Early P2PK addresses cannot be handled.

P2PK addresses pay directly to the public key, without a hash shell,
so the public key is exposed on the chain from the start.
Satoshi’s early mining addresses and some old miners’ addresses are of this type.
It’s estimated that over 6 million BTC are stored in such addresses that expose the public key.

Once quantum computers become practical, these addresses will be the first to be compromised.
Simply freezing them would cause huge controversy:
Isn’t Bitcoin immutable?
Why freeze Satoshi’s coins?

These two vulnerabilities affect different groups: one impacts transaction security for ordinary users,
the other concerns legacy addresses.
Now, researchers have come up with two completely different antidotes for these issues.

First antidote: QSB, as a fallback.

Targeting the first vulnerability (public key exposure during transactions),
researchers propose the QSB solution.
QSB stands for Quantum Safe Bitcoin.

The core idea of QSB is:
When designing transaction scripts, don’t directly expose the public key,
but hide it using a puzzle-like method.

How exactly?
Researchers utilize existing Bitcoin opcodes (like OP_CAT, which was re-enabled via soft fork in 2024),
to design a complex calculation process.
Nodes must execute these steps, performing dozens or hundreds of calculations,
to temporarily derive the public key in memory, and verify the hash matches.
After verification, the public key is discarded and not permanently written to the blockchain.

To illustrate:
A normal transfer is like you directly placing your ID card on the table for everyone to see.
QSB is like you creating a complex math problem, and after everyone verifies the solution, they confirm you are the person on the ID, but your ID never appears.

What can an attacker see?
They see the math problem you created, but not your ID.
To reverse-engineer the ID from the math problem is as hard as cracking the hash function directly —
a difficulty level of 2^128, which even quantum computers can’t handle.

Features of this antidote:
No network upgrade needed, can be used immediately.
The downside is higher transaction fees, estimated between $75 and $200.

But the key point is:
QSB’s significance isn’t just “use it now,” but “it’s available now.”

Most ordinary users don’t need to spend $200 on a QSB transaction today, while quantum computers are still hypothetical.
Why? Because the two principles repeatedly emphasized by the blockchain are enough:

First, only use P2PKH addresses (starting with 1) or P2WPKH addresses (starting with bc1q).
These store the hash of the public key, so the public key isn’t exposed.

Second, only use each address once.
If you need to move Bitcoin from an address, transfer all at once, empty the address, and never reuse it.

Following these two points, your public key either remains unexposed (if only receiving),
or is exposed only once and then the funds are transferred away (if spent).
Even if quantum computers become available tomorrow, they can’t do anything to you.

So, who is QSB for?
It’s for scenarios where the above principles might be violated.
For example, if you have an address that needs to be reused multiple times, increasing the risk of public key exposure,
or if you hold a large amount of funds and want to be absolutely safe now, not waiting for future quantum resistance upgrades.
QSB provides a ready-made escape route that requires no approval.

More importantly, the existence of QSB itself is a reassurance.
When someone tries to scare you with quantum threats, you can confidently say:
Even if quantum computers come out tomorrow, Bitcoin already has a way to handle it —
no hard fork needed, no waiting for developers to upgrade, I can do it myself.

Panic stems from having no options.
QSB offers exactly that option.

Second antidote: ZK proofs, for emergency use.

Targeting the second vulnerability (early P2PK addresses),
researchers propose a completely different solution: zero-knowledge proofs.

The problem with P2PK addresses is that the public key is exposed and can’t be retracted.
So what’s the solution?

The idea is: through community consensus, gradually phase out P2PK addresses.
Meanwhile, provide a migration channel based on zero-knowledge proofs.
Early users can prove ownership of a P2PK address without revealing the private key,
and then rescue their funds by transferring them to QSB addresses or other quantum-resistant addresses.

This antidote’s significance is:
For coins with lost private keys, they are already unusable, so phasing them out causes no loss.
For coins still legitimately held, owners have a chance to recover them.
It protects network security and avoids controversy caused by simple freezing.

ZK solutions aren’t meant for everyday use by ordinary people,
but specifically to handle this legacy issue.
It turns what seems like an unsolvable dilemma into a manageable technical problem.

Two antidotes, one principle.

The blockchain always says:
Even if the quantum threat is a real long-term risk, there’s no need to panic.
There are three reasons:

First, quantum computers are still far from practical.
A16Z Crypto’s early 2026 report clearly states:
The likelihood of a fault-tolerant quantum computer capable of cracking secp256k1 within five years is very low.
Adam Back also believes it will take decades.

Second, Bitcoin can upgrade.
The 2021 Taproot upgrade already paved the way for future signature algorithm changes.
And now, these two new antidotes prove that even without major upgrades, existing rules can be quantum-resistant.

Third, ordinary people can protect themselves now.
Use P2PKH or P2WPKH addresses, don’t reuse addresses, and follow these two principles.
The existence of QSB and ZK solutions just makes this safety net even tighter.

The blockchain believes that those panicking now are likely being led astray by malicious actors.
Every wave of quantum panic is exploited by people pushing so-called anti-quantum coins,
or advising you to sell Bitcoin for gold.
But they never tell you that the risk of altcoins going to zero, or gold facing interstellar mining threats,
are much greater than Bitcoin’s quantum threat.

Finally,

QSB is a fallback antidote, ZK is for emergency.
One addresses the future, the other the past.
Both require no hard fork and respect Bitcoin’s existing rules.

The significance of these two solutions isn’t that they will be widely used,
but that their existence itself eliminates the root of panic.

Panic comes from feeling there’s no way out.
When you know the path is right beneath your feet, what’s there to panic about?

Quantum computers are still far away, but Bitcoin’s response plans are in place.
Rather than being led by anxiety-driven marketing,
it’s better to quietly hold and wait.

After all, in the crypto world, survival isn’t about running faster than the market,
but about not being scared to death by public scare tactics or rumors.