Mitigating The Impact Of The Quantum Freeze

BitMEX Research examines what happens if bitcoin responds to a quantum threat by freezing spends from quantum-vulnerable outputs — a drastic step that would also strand coins whose owners hold only an exposed key. The post proposes recovery mechanisms so legitimate owners are not permanently locked out.

One approach uses a hash commitment in one transaction followed by a reveal in a later transaction, so an owner can prove control without broadcasting an immediately forgeable signature. Another uses a zero-knowledge proof of knowledge of the seed, avoiding a separate setup step. Both aim to distinguish a real owner from a quantum attacker during a freeze.

The piece does not argue that a freeze should happen; it treats the freeze as a contingency and works through its consequences. The status of lost or dormant coins under any such scheme remains a genuinely contested question.