🧠 Is Bitcoin Facing a Quantum Threat? Here's a Quick Overview:
1. Major Transfer Event
On July 4, 2025, a total of 80,000 BTC were moved from eight dormant Satoshi-era wallets, each holding 10,000 BTC and untouched for nearly 14 years. The funds were transferred into modern SegWit (bc1q) addresses, with no signs of selling activity on the market.
2. Quantum Risk Concerns
These old wallets use the P2PK (pay-to-public-key) format, which publicly reveals the user's key on-chain. This format is theoretically more vulnerable to future quantum computing attacks. Developers estimate that around 4–5 million BTC—roughly 25% of the total supply—are stored in similarly exposed addresses. This has sparked discussions around a soft-fork proposal to phase out such outdated formats.
3. Why This May Be Quantum-Related
Analysis from Arkham Intelligence and Ledger’s CTO suggests the move wasn’t financially motivated. Instead, it may have been triggered by a wave of OP_RETURN spam messages—on-chain notes falsely claiming wallet ownership. This likely prompted the original holder to shift funds to more secure addresses, possibly as a precaution against future quantum threats.
4. Putting Quantum Risk in Perspective
While quantum computers capable of cracking Bitcoin’s encryption are still theoretical and likely years away, simple steps like using one-time addresses and upgrading to SegWit or newer formats already help reduce risk in the meantime.
✅ Bottom Line
This massive BTC transfer seems to reflect preventative action, not panic. As the crypto community continues to explore ways to future-proof Bitcoin—including retiring old address formats and planning for post-quantum cryptography—this might just be an early adopter playing it safe ahead of the curve.