Paradigm partners release PACTs proposal, in which Satoshi era holders can prove control without moving BTC

Bitcoin's quantum computing concerns always have a "Satoshi Nakamoto related problem." If a sufficiently powerful quantum computer comes out, millions of bitcoins stored in old wallets with exposed public keys could be at risk of theft, including about 1.1 million bitcoins allegedly attributed to anonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto, currently worth about $84 billion. Veteran developer Jameson Lopp and five other developers officially proposed the plan through BIP-361 in mid-April, which will phase out addresses that are vulnerable to quantum attacks on a five-year timetable and freeze any coins that fail to complete the migration. But the proposal creates another problem: Satoshi Nakamoto and all other long-dormant holders will have to "appear" publicly or risk losing access to assets. Dan Robinson, general partner of Paradigm, released a proposal on Friday that proposes a way to circumvent this trade-off, with the core concept of "provable timestamps of address control rights"(PACTs). The core idea of PACTs is not to move coins, but to time-stamp certificates of ownership on specific dates and not disclose any information until the wallet owner actually needs to spend it. If Bitcoin later enables a soft fork that freezes vulnerable coins, the protocol could include a rescue path that accepts STARK proof (a zero-knowledge proof that quantum computers are still safe), proving that the holder has the promise of quantum hardware was created before it existed. The holder submits the certificate when he wishes to spend, and the network releases the corresponding coins. The redemption process does not reveal any information about the address, amount, or even when the original timestamp was created.