Charles Hoskinson warns: Quantum threatens or subverts Bitcoin's hegemony

Cardano co-founder: Quantum threat or end Bitcoin dominance

Cardano co-founder Charles Hoskinson warned that Bitcoin could lose its dominance if its governance system and its community fail to coordinate the response to quantum computing threats.

Bitcoin developers are already working on post-quantum solutions, including the BIP 361 proposal. The proposal recommends abandoning the use of ECDSA and Schnorr signatures after selecting post-quantum systems.

Quantum threat could end Bitcoin's dominance

Hoskinson issued the warning in an interview with The Starting Block. The Cardano co-founder said Bitcoin has "stalled" because any network changes require consensus among stakeholders such as users, miners, node operators and developers. Hoskinson believes that dissatisfaction with Bitcoin's rigidity and lack of flexibility is one of the important reasons for the birth of Ethereum. Hoskinson, along with Vitalik Buterin, was the original co-founder of Ethereum. "The problem with Bitcoin is that it is frozen in time and can hardly change anything," he pointed out in an interview.

Bitcoin uses elliptic curve cryptography to prove ownership of funds. In theory, a quantum computer could crack the private key from the public key and authorize transactions without the owner's knowledge or authorization. Hoskinson believes that quantum threats could pose significant risks to this mainstream cryptocurrency and its US$1.3 trillion market value, which will ultimately weaken its dominance unless its governance mechanisms can adapt without affecting its core value. "Bitcoin is strong because it has withstood external threats... including the disappearance of its founder. Quantum computers are another threat... If Bitcoin's governance mechanisms prevent substantial progress or undermine the core reasons for users to use Bitcoin, I don't think Bitcoin can maintain its status as the number one cryptocurrency."

Cardano is better prepared in the face of technological threats

Hoskinsen believes that Cardano's formal chain governance mechanism and ability to approve upgrades allow it to better respond to threats like those faced by Bitcoin. "Cardano is in many ways the spiritual successor to Bitcoin. It fixes many issues that Satoshi failed to solve due to professional or time constraints but went in the right direction."

After the Plomin hard fork in January 2025, Cardano has shifted to a model that is entirely community-governed. ADA token holders can vote or delegate their voting rights to a representative called DRep. The Constitutional Council and pledge pool operators are also involved in key decisions. This system helps Cardano approve hard forks and treasury decisions on the chain. Hoskinson said Cardano could use the system to vote on whether to migrate infrastructure that is vulnerable to quantum attacks.

Hoskinson added that Cardano is preparing for its largest upgrade, which will increase network speeds "60 times."

Not a perfect system

However, Cardano has not yet made or completed such migrations because its governance system must evaluate technical designs, approve funding, and coordinate users, developers, and service providers. Cardano's governance system has also been controversial many times. Cardano's representatives recently vetoed and questioned a number of proposals related to Hoskinson and Input Output, including a proposal to study Leios expansion and anti-quantum cryptography.

Bitcoin developers explore post-quantum solutions

Bitcoin governance allows developers to propose code, but it is up to users and node operators to decide whether to implement it. Miners, exchanges and wallet providers can also influence decisions. While this helps avoid frequent changes, it also makes emergency coordination difficult. The community is focusing on Proposal BIP-361, which aims to phase out traditional ECDSA and Schnorr signatures to protect networks from quantum threats. Several other proposals are also under consideration, including proposals to advocate new address formats, mixed signatures and recovery paths.

However, any measure would require wallets, exchanges, custodians and users holding dormant tokens to relocate their funds while avoiding network fragmentation or conflicting ownership rules.