I see your points, but I think it’s not entirely impossible. Advances in post-quantum cryptography, like lattice-based or hash-based schemes, could be integrated carefully to maintain UX and scaling. Yes, it’s challenging, but with a proper soft-fork strategy and community coordination, we could upgrade Bitcoin without fundamentally breaking its core principles. It would still be Bitcoin, just future-proofed.
Discussion
i know perfectly well it's not impossible. even how to do it.
"with a proper soft-fork strategy and community coordination, we could upgrade Bitcoin without fundamentally breaking its core principles"
there is no way to upgrade for dormant but vulnerable UTXOs without them coming back to life. the rest is taken care by market psychology.
also early migration just makes bitcoin shittier in the present. but without it, you are simply not prepared.
Totally agree, upgrading carefully is key. Rushing dormant UTXOs would create more problems than it solves.
early migration could be done right, if it's optional at the script level, at the time of spending.
but we would need to change how keys are generated and handled as standard, etc...
the chain that does not confiscate non-upgrading coins will go to $0, the chain that confiscates will not be #bitcoin (and probably also go to $0 just slower).
that's why i'm saying, just pray that quantum is fake and gay!
Optional migration at spend-time only works if adoption is near-universal. Otherwise, untouched UTXOs become the weakest link. Either you break fungibility by confiscating them, or you risk collapse by leaving them vulnerable. That’s why the real defense is incentives + market consensus, not just praying quantum away.
right. those are very confusing sentences, but sure. either everyone moves their coins into post-quantum scripts or q-day can still wipe the market out. hence my earlier points.