finance
Binance Founder Proposes Freezing Satoshi Nakamoto's 1.1 Million Bitcoin
Changpeng Zhao suggested giving Satoshi Nakamoto six to 12 months to move the coins before the community considers freezing the addresses if quantum computers threaten Bitcoin's cryptography. The proposal, made during a podcast last month, has drawn differing views from industry figures. Bitcoin trades near $63,000.
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Binance founder Changpeng Zhao proposed freezing Satoshi Nakamoto's estimated 1.1 million bitcoins if the coins remain unmoved once quantum computers threaten Bitcoin's cryptography. He suggested giving Satoshi six to 12 months to move the bitcoin before the community could decide to freeze the addresses. Zhao floated the idea during a podcast last month with Galaxy Digital's Alex Thorn.
At bitcoin's price of roughly $62,000 the holdings are worth about $68 billion, CoinDesk reported. Michael Terpin said freezing Satoshi's coins would cross a line Bitcoin has never crossed and would violate its permissionless system. He added that it took years to implement SegWit and doubted a quick consensus could be formed on freezing the coins.
Jameson Lopp authored Bitcoin Improvement Proposal 361, which outlines a phased migration to quantum-resistant cryptography. Lopp said in April that it would be better to freeze Satoshi’s hoard and millions of other dormant bitcoins than to let hackers steal them.
Matt Hougan said he likes Nic Carter's proposal to place Satoshi's bitcoin into a legal trust until ownership could be proven through historical electronic records.
Hougan stated the market already treats Satoshi's holdings as effectively unavailable.
