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    Author Topic: Is the proposed BIP 360 the correct way to achieve quantum attack resistance?  (Read 193 times)
    d5000 (OP)
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    June 07, 2025, 05:23:59 PM
    Merited by vapourminer (4), ABCbits (1), DireWolfM14 (1), Charles-Tim (1), Mia Chloe (1), mcdouglasx (1), stwenhao (1)
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    Just today I stumbled upon the proposed BIP 360. It is still not an "official" BIP and was published as a draft by a developer Hunter Beast in December 2024. It seems to be part of a project called QuBit, which will propose more related BIPs in the future.

    The BIP proposes a new output type, Pay to Quantum Resistant Hash (P2QRH). Basically, you could create a new set of quantum resistant addresses starting with bc1r. Initially, the FALCON algorithm would be supported, but later support for lighter algorithms would be added, once they are tested enough.

    FALCON signatures are 10 times larger approximately than ECDSA signatures and 20 times larger than Schnorr signatures, so this would impact block space if it becomes popular. In addition, it would take over 70 days to transfer all existing UTXOs into P2QRH outputs. So if such a proposal comes too early, it could also have some negative consequences like block congestion, which could exceed the Ordinals Inscriptions wave from 2023. Perhaps a lower weight could be assigned to these signatures.

    The BIP is also discussed in the developer mailing list, see here for example.

    What do you think? Is this the best way to introduce quantum safety in Bitcoin?

    In my opinion it's a quite simple and straightforward approach. However, I don't know if hard-coding the algorithms into the Bitcoin code is really the best way to implement it, because we don't know which algorithm is the best. Years ago there was a proposal to introduce the Simplicity script language instead, which could be used to implement algorithms without hard-coding them (see e.g. this short explanation by Adam Back).

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