a16z warning: Bitcoin can't afford to delay its quantum-resistant upgrade any longer, hundreds of billions of dollars in assets are at risk

[Crypto World] a16z’s latest article brings up a pretty serious issue—the upgrade of Bitcoin’s quantum resistance can’t be delayed any longer.

They point out that BTC is currently stuck at two critical points. The first is extremely low governance efficiency. You know, any upgrade in the Bitcoin community moves at a snail’s pace, and if the proposal is controversial, it could directly lead to a divisive hard fork. This kind of decision-making process is really dangerous when facing urgent threats like quantum attacks.

The second issue is even trickier—migration won’t happen automatically. Even if the protocol is upgraded with quantum-resistant signatures, holders have to actively move their assets over themselves. Here’s the problem: what about long-dormant wallets? Lost private keys, forgotten wallets, holders who have passed away… all these coins would be completely exposed to quantum attack risks.

a16z’s estimated numbers are pretty alarming—there may be several million bitcoins in this situation, which at current prices means we’re talking about a security issue involving hundreds of billions of dollars in assets.