Fidelity Digital says Bitcoin can adopt quantum resistance, but consensus is the hurdle

Fidelity Digital Assets said in a research report titled 'Bitcoin’s Path to Quantum Resistance' that cryptographic upgrades to prepare the Bitcoin network for quantum computing are technically feasible, but reaching consensus across the decentralized community will be the biggest challenge. The report said a sufficiently powerful quantum computer running Shor’s algorithm could derive private keys from public keys, creating a risk of asset theft. It added that a cryptographically relevant quantum computer, or CRQC, capable of breaking Bitcoin’s cryptography has not yet been commercialized. Fidelity Digital Assets also identified Blockstream’s SHRINCS BIP as a promising quantum-resistant alternative. The report described it as a hybrid model that combines stateful and stateless hash signatures to optimize both efficiency and security. It added that, because Bitcoin has no central authority, building social consensus among developers, miners and node operators may prove more difficult than the technical development itself.