Bitcoin needs at least 7 years to prepare for quantum threats, researcher says

It will take at least seven years for Bitcoin to prepare for the threat of quantum computing, according to one researcher. Cointelegraph reported that Bitcoin researcher Ethan Heilman explained that migrating the network to one completely safe from quantum computers would likely take about seven years, assuming all participants agree on the roadmap. This timeline includes a three-year period for completing the Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP), conducting code reviews and testing (2.5 years), and activating the network (0.5 years). The outlet added that Bitcoin developers recently merged BIP-360, a proposal designed to address quantum vulnerabilities, into the official BIP GitHub repository. BIP-360 is considered the most basic and conservative step toward quantum resistance. While it can protect long-held funds from theft, it has limitations in preventing attacks that occur during the brief period a transaction remains in the mempool.