Changpeng Zhao Proposes Freezing Satoshi’s Bitcoin Against Quantum Risks

During a June 18 appearance on the Galaxy Brains podcast, the former Binance CEO argued that the network must prepare for a post-quantum reality. His plan envisions a six-to-twelve-month grace period following a protocol upgrade, after which any unmoved coins would be locked. Zhao contends this is necessary to prevent bad actors from harvesting dormant funds, which he claims would lead to an unfair redistribution of wealth to whoever first cracks current security standards.

The proposal has ignited a sharp divide within the developer community. While some researchers, including those contributing to a recent Coinbase advisory report, argue that proactive migration is essential to maintain network integrity, critics view the move as a fundamental violation of Bitcoin's core tenets. Galaxy Digital’s Alex Thorn and other opponents maintain that overriding ownership rights—even for the sake of security—threatens the immutability that defines Bitcoin as a neutral monetary system. Thorn noted that the technical reality is more nuanced, as Satoshi’s estimated 1 million BTC are spread across roughly 22,000 addresses, complicating the feasibility of a single-point quantum breach.