Bitcoin signs transactions today with elliptic-curve cryptography. We are studying the signatures that could secure it if a large-scale quantum computer ever arrives.
No quantum computer can break Bitcoin's signatures today. The concern is what may be possible years into the future.
There is no post-quantum signature scheme in Bitcoin today. This is research, studied carefully and in the open.
Changes to Bitcoin take years of review. Studying the options now is the responsible way to prepare.
Every Bitcoin transaction is authorized by a digital signature. Today those signatures use elliptic-curve cryptography, ECDSA and Schnorr, which is secure against any computer in use now.
A large-scale quantum computer would change that math. In principle, such a machine could derive a private key from its public key and forge a signature. That capability does not exist today, and building it remains a long-horizon problem. Preparing for it is still the prudent thing to do.
One promising direction is hash-based signatures. Instead of relying on the hardness of elliptic-curve math, they rely only on the security of cryptographic hash functions, the same primitives that already secure Bitcoin's mining and its transaction structure.
Hash functions are believed to resist quantum attacks far better than elliptic curves. A quantum computer offers only a modest speed-up against them, which a larger output size can absorb. That makes hash-based signatures a well-studied foundation for a post-quantum Bitcoin.
OP_CHECKSHRINCS is a proposal for a hash-based signature opcode, a way to verify post-quantum signatures inside a Bitcoin script. It was presented by Jonas Nick, director of Blockstream Research, as an exploration of how such signatures could fit Bitcoin's existing model.
It is a research proposal, not a shipped feature. There is no plan or date for it to be added to Bitcoin. The value of the work is in studying the design openly: what a post-quantum opcode would need to do, what it would cost, and what trade-offs it carries.
Post-quantum security for Bitcoin is an open problem. No scheme is deployed today, and the work continues in public, where it can be reviewed by anyone.
Bitcoin still secures funds with elliptic-curve signatures. No post-quantum scheme has been added, and these proposals are studies of what could work.
The cryptography, the proposals, and the code are published for review. Open work is how a change of this weight earns trust over time.
The quantum threat is real but distant. We treat it as a long-term engineering question, studied carefully, without overstating the timeline.
Blockstream Research studies the cryptography and protocol changes that keep Bitcoin secure for the long run.
Peer-reviewed cryptography and protocol work, built in the open. Post-quantum security is one frontier among several.