Written by: Coach Liu

Overnight, BTC has fallen again. The market is still struggling around 71k, with various panic emotions spreading. Whenever the market is down, someone always brings out the old actor of quantum computing, along with Google's set deadline of 2029 for quantum resistance migration, stirring up a new wave of anxiety marketing in the crypto world.

But this time, something has changed.

On April 12, Decrypt reported on the latest research. The researchers presented two antidotes targeting the two so-called Achilles' heels of quantum threats. And the most crucial point is—no hard fork is needed.

After reading the report, my first reaction was: the quantum panic can take a break.

First, let's clarify what the two Achilles' heels are

Before discussing the antidotes, we need to make the problem clear. The FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) around quantum threats has two core arguments:

Achilles' Heel One: Public keys are exposed during transactions.

Bitcoin's P2PKH address stores the hash of the public key, much like an envelope. When receiving money, the envelope is sealed, and outsiders cannot see the public key inside. But when you spend money, you must tear open the envelope, reveal the complete public key, and provide a signature to prove the money is yours.

The issue is that once the public key is revealed, it remains permanently on the blockchain. Quantum computers, although still far off, can gradually compute against this exposed public key, and someday they will be able to deduce your private key.

Achilles' Heel Two: Early P2PK addresses cannot be handled.

P2PK addresses are payments made directly to public keys, without a hashed shell; the public key has been exposed on the chain from the beginning. Satoshi's early mining addresses and those of some old miners belong to this type. It is estimated that over 6 million BTC are lying in these addresses with exposed public keys.

Once quantum computers become practical, these addresses will be the first to be breached. Simply freezing them will provoke tremendous controversy: isn't Bitcoin immutable? Why freeze Satoshi's coins?

These two Achilles' heels affect the transaction security of ordinary users and the historical legacy of old addresses. Now, researchers have presented two completely different antidotes for these two issues.

The First Antidote: QSB, for underlying protection

In response to the first Achilles' heel (exposed public key in transactions), researchers proposed the QSB plan. QSB stands for Quantum Safe Bitcoin.

The core idea of QSB is: when designing transaction scripts, do not directly expose the public key, but hide it using a puzzle-like approach.

How exactly is it hidden? The researchers utilize Bitcoin's existing opcodes (such as OP_CAT, which will be re-enabled by soft fork in 2024) to design a complex set of operational steps. Nodes must execute these steps, going through dozens or even hundreds of calculations to temporarily obtain the public key in memory and verify if the hash matches. Once verified, this public key is discarded and will not be permanently written to the blockchain.

To give an analogy: a regular transfer is like laying your ID card on the table for everyone to see. QSB is like solving a complex math problem, where everyone confirms that you are indeed the person on the ID without revealing the ID itself.

What can the attacker see? They can see the math problem you've solved, but they cannot see the ID. Deducing the ID from the math problem is as difficult as directly cracking the hash function—that's a 2^128 level difficulty, which even quantum computers cannot handle.

This antidote's feature: it does not require any network upgrades and can be used right now. The downside is that transaction fees are relatively high, estimated between 75 to 200 dollars.

But I want to emphasize: the significance of QSB is not in the "use it now," but in "it exists now."

The vast majority of ordinary users do not need to spend 200 dollars on a QSB transaction while quantum computers are still merely hypothetical. Why? Because the two principles that I repeatedly emphasize are sufficient:

First, only use P2PKH addresses (starting with 1) or P2WPKH addresses (starting with bc1q). These addresses store the hash of the public key, keeping the public key hidden.

Second, use each address only once. If you need to use Bitcoin from a certain address, transfer all of it at once, empty the address, and never use it again.

By adhering to these two points, your public key is either never exposed (if you only receive) or exposed only once while the money has already been transferred (if you spend). Even if quantum computers can be used tomorrow, they cannot touch you.

So who is QSB for? It is intended for scenarios that may violate the above principles. For example, you have an address that needs to be reused for various reasons, thus increasing the risk of public key exposure. Or you have a large sum of money and wish to ensure its safety without waiting for future quantum upgrades. QSB provides a ready-made escape route that doesn’t require anyone else's 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 now has measures to cope, without requiring hard forks or waiting for developers to upgrade; I can handle it myself.

Panic comes from having no choices. What QSB provides is precisely that choice.

The Second Antidote: ZK proof, for emergencies

In response to the second Achilles' heel (early P2PK addresses), researchers rolled out another completely different remedy: zero-knowledge proof.

The problem with P2PK addresses is that the public key has already been exposed, and there is no way to take it back. So what to do?

The researchers' approach is: through community consensus, gradually phase out the P2PK address type. At the same time, provide a migration channel based on zero-knowledge proofs. Early users can use ZK proofs to demonstrate their ownership of a P2PK address without exposing their private keys, and then salvaging their funds by transferring them to QSB addresses or other quantum-resistant addresses.

The significance of this antidote is: those coins whose private keys have really been lost are already unusable, and phasing them out incurs no losses. Meanwhile, coins that are still legally held provide their owners a chance to recover them. This protects network security while avoiding the controversies arising from simple freezing.

The ZK solution is not for everyday use by ordinary people but specifically designed to address that historical legacy problem. It transforms what seems like an unsolvable dilemma into a manageable technical issue.

Two Antidotes, One Principle

I have always said that even if quantum threats are a real long-term risk, there is no need for panic. There are three reasons:

First, quantum computers are still far from practical use. A long article published by a16z crypto in early 2026 makes it very clear: the likelihood of a fault-tolerant quantum computer capable of breaking secp256k1 appearing in the next five years is extremely low. Adam Back also believes it will take several decades.

Second, Bitcoin can upgrade. The 2021 Taproot upgrade has already paved the way for future signature algorithm changes. The two new antidotes also prove that even without massive upgrades, it is possible to achieve quantum resistance under the existing rules.

Third, ordinary people can protect themselves right now. By using P2PKH or P2WPKH addresses without reusing them, adhering to these two guidelines is sufficient. The existence of the QSB and ZK solutions simply makes this safety net even tighter.

In fact, I believe that those who start panicking now are likely being led by individuals with ulterior motives. Each time quantum panic strikes, there are always those who take the opportunity to promote so-called quantum-resistant coins or persuade you to sell your Bitcoin for gold. But these people never tell you about the risk of altcoins going to zero or the mining threats faced by gold, which are far greater than the risks Bitcoin faces from quantum threats.

In Conclusion

QSB is the antidote for underlying protection, while ZK is for emergencies. One is aimed at the future, the other at the past. Both antidotes do not require hard forks and respect Bitcoin's existing rules.

The significance of these two antidotes lies not in their widespread use, but in their existence, which itself eliminates the root of panic.

Panic arises from the feeling of having no way out. When you know that the path is right under your feet, why panic?

Quantum computers are still on a distant journey, but Bitcoin's response plan is already in place. Instead of being led by anxiety marketing, it is better to quietly continue holding.

After all, in the crypto world, the most important thing is not to run faster than the market, but not to be scared to death by various public intimidations or rumors.