[DigitalToday reporter Yoonseo Lee] Crypto exchange BitMEX has put forward an alternative to pre-emptively freezing bitcoin vulnerable to quantum computers, proposing instead a mechanism that would trigger a freeze only when a threat is proven.

On April 16, Cointelegraph reported that BitMEX Research proposed a “bitcoin soft fork” concept outlining the plan.

The core is a “canary approach,” not an immediate freeze. BitMEX’s position is to allow movement of old bitcoin until it is proven that quantum computers can actually steal bitcoin. It designed a full freeze to activate only “if it is proven that quantum computers that can steal bitcoin actually exist.”

To that end, BitMEX presented a “Canary Fund.” The method creates a special bitcoin address whose private key cannot be known but is formally valid, and users send bitcoin there to accumulate it like a bounty. If someone with a sufficiently powerful quantum computer withdraws funds from the address, that itself becomes a signal that the quantum threat has become real. BitMEX explained that this structure provides an incentive for an actor with quantum capabilities to “sound the alarm.”

The proposal is positioned as an alternative to BIP-361, which was presented on April 15. BIP-361 calls for freezing, among long-dormant bitcoin, amounts vulnerable to quantum attacks to prepare for possible future theft. Some in the community objected, saying the plan is authoritarian and confiscatory.

BitMEX’s proposal, mindful of that backlash, puts weight on delaying the scope of any freeze as much as possible. Under canary monitoring, old bitcoin can continue to be used unless malicious theft using quantum computers actually occurs.

Investors participating in the Canary Fund do not have their funds completely locked up either. BitMEX explained that participants can use multisignature methods and withdraw bitcoin at any time. It also included an approach that keeps a certain safety buffer even after the 5-year point proposed by BIP-361, allowing quantum-vulnerable transactions in a limited way while locking the outputs for a set period.

Jameson Lopp (제임슨 롭), a co-author of BIP-361, also said he does not view the current proposal as something to be activated immediately. He said his bitcoin improvement proposal is not a ready-to-activate plan but closer to a “rough idea for an emergency plan.” He added in a post on X, formerly Twitter, “I know people don’t like this plan, and I also don’t like it. I wrote it because I liked the alternatives even less.”

Lopp also explained that the proposal is only a sketch to address a potential “circulating supply shock” that could arise when quantum computing advances and reaches a level where consensus is achieved on adding a quantum-resistant signature scheme to bitcoin. The debate over pre-emptive freezing versus responding after confirming a real threat is focusing on what procedures and consensus the bitcoin network should use to handle quantum-computer risk.

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