Bitcoin Edges Toward Quantum-Resistant Upgrades as Experts Split on Urgency

Bitcoin developers merged BIP-360 into the GitHub repository to establish a post-quantum framework, introducing Pay-to-Merkle-Root to disable the quantum-exposed key-path spend and laying groundwork for future quantum-safe signatures; the change is not yet activated and would require broad consensus to deploy. Within the community, experts are divided on how soon a quantum threat could matter: some, like Caltech’s president, project fault-tolerant quantum systems in 5–7 years, while others including NIST guidance and researchers like CoinShares and Jameson Lopp say practical quantum risks are still years or even decades away, underscoring ongoing debates about timing and the challenges of upgrading a ossified decentralized network.