{"id":12480,"date":"2026-08-27T23:16:23","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T23:16:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=12480"},"modified":"2026-08-27T23:16:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T23:16:23","slug":"how-bitcoin-just-proved-it-could-survive-a-quantum-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=12480","title":{"rendered":"How Bitcoin just proved it could survive a quantum attack"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Bitcoin has confirmed a quantum-resistant transaction on mainnet using its existing consensus rules, showing that some holders could migrate funds away from future quantum risk without waiting for a protocol upgrade.<\/p>\n

The Aug. 26 transaction used a construction developed by StarkWare researcher Avihu Levy that shifts the critical spending condition away from elliptic-curve signatures and toward hash-based security. It was included in block 964,199 after being submitted directly to Bitcoin miner MARA through its Slipstream service.<\/p>\n

StarkWare described the transaction as the first quantum-safe spend on Bitcoin mainnet. Earlier experiments explored post-quantum approaches in Bitcoin Script and on Blockstream\u2019s Liquid sidechain, but this test showed that Bitcoin itself could accept a hash-based spending path without changing consensus rules.<\/p>\n

However, the workaround does not make Bitcoin quantum-safe.<\/p>\n

StarkWare Chief Executive Eli Ben-Sasson said the test should not be interpreted as evidence that Bitcoin is already prepared for quantum computing. He argued that broader soft-fork solutions are still needed to protect the network at scale.<\/p>\n

\u201cA quantum-safe Bitcoin tx on mainnet\u201d proves that workable approaches exist, Ben-Sasson said, while warning that the main task remains building a migration path before quantum hardware becomes capable of threatening exposed keys.<\/p>\n

How Quantum-Safe Bitcoin operates<\/h2>\n

For many Bitcoin addresses, the public key stays concealed behind a hash until the holder spends from that address. That delay matters because a future quantum attacker would need the public key before attempting to derive the corresponding private key.<\/p>\n

Levy\u2019s Quantum-Safe Bitcoin, or QSB, construction uses that window to move eligible coins into a hash-based spending condition before the classical public key is revealed.<\/p>\n

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The method works by repeatedly varying candidate transaction data until it produces a hash that Bitcoin accepts as a validly formatted signature. That computation takes place before the transaction is broadcast, shifting the security assumption away from elliptic-curve cryptography and toward the difficulty of reversing hash functions.<\/p>\n