By Isaac • November 12, 2026 3:29 pm •
A Bitcoin developer has proposed a deliberately adversarial way to deal with a future quantum attacker: make the thief put up enough Bitcoin that a failed attack becomes an expensive gift to the real owner.
Cory Fields calls the idea a “quantum landmine.” It is not finished Bitcoin code, and it is not a prediction that quantum computers can break Bitcoin today. Fields presented it as a thought experiment for a possible future migration after the network has a quantum-safe output type.
Trending: China calls for Strait of Hormuz to reopen in meeting with Iran
In a Nov. 4 post to the Bitcoin Development Mailing List, Fields assumed a future “Q-day” when sufficiently powerful quantum machines might recover private keys from vulnerable public keys. Under his proposal, spending an
Continue reading
Join the conversation!
Please share your thoughts about this article below. We value your opinions, and would love to see you add to the discussion!