Avihu Levy proposes Quantum Safe Bitcoin for quantum-resistant transactions
Updated
Updated · Observer · May 8
Avihu Levy proposes Quantum Safe Bitcoin for quantum-resistant transactions
8 articles · Updated · Observer · May 8
The StarkWare executive says QSB works within Bitcoin’s existing legacy script, but each transaction would cost about $75 to $150 in GPU compute.
The proposal is framed as a contingency tool for institutions, custodians and large holders, not a scalable fix for Bitcoin’s wider post-quantum migration.
The bigger unresolved issues are moving hundreds of millions of addresses and deciding what to do with vulnerable dormant coins as quantum attack estimates tighten.
Bitcoin's quantum dilemma: Sacrifice its core principles to save Satoshi's vulnerable coins, or risk a market-breaking theft?
As rivals like Zcash achieve quantum safety, is Bitcoin’s slow consensus model now its greatest liability?
QSB vs. BIP-360: Emergency Quantum Protection for Bitcoin at $75+ Per Transaction
Overview
In April 2026, Avihu Levy introduced Quantum Safe Bitcoin (QSB), a breakthrough solution offering immediate quantum resistance for Bitcoin without requiring protocol changes. QSB leverages Bitcoin's existing scripting to replace vulnerable ECDSA signatures with hash-based Lamport signatures, protecting unexposed UTXOs from quantum attacks. However, QSB transactions are costly to generate, non-standard, and incompatible with second-layer protocols like Lightning Network, limiting their use to high-value emergency cases. Meanwhile, the Bitcoin community debates QSB's stopgap role versus long-term protocol upgrades like BIP-360, which proposes hybrid quantum-resistant signatures via a soft fork. While QSB provides urgent protection, comprehensive quantum security demands coordinated protocol-level solutions.