Bitcoin developer proposes ‘landmines’ to deter quantum theft

quantum theft — A Bitcoin developer has proposed a novel defense mechanism, dubbed ‘landmines,’ designed to protect vulnerable coins from future quantum computer attacks by making theft financially punitive.

The concept, outlined by developer Robin Linus, targets bitcoins stored in unhashed, public-key addresses. In a quantum attack scenario, an adversary could derive the private key from the public key and steal the funds. The ‘landmine’ proposal would require anyone attempting to move such vulnerable coins to also post a matching amount of bitcoin as collateral in the same transaction.

This creates a powerful deterrent: if a quantum thief tries to steal the coins, the original, prepared owner can use a pre-signed transaction to claim both the original funds and the thief’s collateral, causing the attacker to lose their own bitcoin. The mechanism is designed to be a voluntary, user-deployed countermeasure rather than a mandatory protocol change.

The proposal highlights the growing discussion within the Bitcoin community about preparing for the long-term threat of quantum computing, which could break the elliptic-curve cryptography securing wallets today. While practical quantum computers capable of such attacks are not expected for years or decades, developers are exploring proactive solutions.