Author: Robert Spigler 2021-03-15 22:30:35
Published on: 2021-03-15T22:30:35+00:00
A discussion among Bitcoin developers regarding the proposed Taproot upgrade is taking place, with concerns being raised about the safety of the network against quantum computing (QC) attacks. Some argue that Taproot loses an important safety protection against quantum, and while pre-Taproot it was possible for the network to "pause" while a full quantum-safe fix was developed, this might not be the case with Taproot as-is. However, others argue that this issue has been discussed extensively in the past and should not be a reason to reject Taproot. The features proposed to make use of the naked pubkey can be implemented with pubkey hashes as well, but some argue the storage space required for Taproot transactions is materially reduced by avoiding the hash indirection. Additionally, address reuse is seen as a major concern, with 37% of supply at risk of quantum attack due to this practice. While some argue that social efforts discouraging address use can help shrink the percentage of bitcoins affected, others believe that there are a lot of old coins that are unlikely to move any time soon and are exposed whether we like it or not.
Updated on: 2023-06-14T19:33:13.853198+00:00