finance
Quantum-Proof Bitcoin Tool Runs in 243 Milliseconds but Leaves Satoshi's Coins and New Freeze Rules Untouched
Project Eleven funded a zero-knowledge proof system that lets post-2012 wallet owners demonstrate control of quantum-vulnerable coins. The prototype works for addresses created after BIP-32 but cannot recover pre-2012 holdings including those attributed to Satoshi Nakamoto.
Jul 19, 6:00 AM·1m read1 source
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Project Eleven funded a zero-knowledge proof system that lets owners of post-2012 Bitcoin wallets prove control of their addresses after quantum computers can forge signatures. The prototype generates the proof in 243 milliseconds on four cores of an M5 MacBook Air and verifies it in 40 milliseconds while using roughly 2 gigabytes of memory and no GPU.
CoinDesk reported that the system exploits the one-way nature of hardened key derivation under BIP-32, which was assigned on February 11, 2012.
A user proves knowledge of the parent key material without revealing it and binds the proof to a migration transaction. The scheme has no trusted setup. BIP-361, published in April by Jameson Lopp and five co-authors, would block new deposits to quantum-vulnerable addresses after three years and freeze remaining coins after five years.
More than 34 percent of all bitcoin sits in addresses whose public keys have been exposed, according to the proposal. The proof cannot recover Satoshi Nakamoto's roughly 1.1 million BTC. Those coins reside in pay-to-public-key outputs created before BIP-32 existed, with no derivation path or parent key above them on the chain.
Satoshi mined through 2009 and 2010 and was gone by 2011. Project Eleven stated that the prototype remains unaudited, supports three Bitcoin address types rather than Taproot, and roots the proof at the coin-type key rather than the seed. It recovers nothing on any live blockchain as of today.
