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Bitcoin confirms a quantum-resistant spend path on mainnet

The Aug. 26 quantum-safe transaction was included in block 964,199 after submission via MARA’s Slipstream service, demonstrating a hash based spending condition using Bitcoin’s existing consensus rules.

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Bitcoin has confirmed a quantum-resistant spending method on its mainnet without changing protocol rules, giving some holders a way to migrate funds away from future quantum risk. According to CryptoSlate, the Aug. 26 transaction used a construction by StarkWare researcher Avihu Levy that shifts the spending condition from elliptic curve signatures toward hash-based security.

The transaction entered block 964,199 after being submitted directly to Bitcoin miner MARA through its Slipstream service. StarkWare described it as the first quantum-safe spend on Bitcoin mainnet, showing Bitcoin can accept a hash-based spending path using current consensus, while earlier experiments had focused on approaches in Bitcoin Script and on Blockstream’s Liquid sidechain.

CryptoSlate reports that StarkWare CEO Eli Ben-Sasson cautioned against reading the test as proof Bitcoin is already prepared for quantum computing at scale. He said broader soft-fork solutions are still needed to protect the network, and that the priority is building a migration path before quantum hardware becomes capable of threatening exposed keys.

The method relies on delaying the revelation of public keys until funds are spent, so a future attacker would need the public key before deriving the corresponding private key. CryptoSlate notes the protection does not apply to coins whose public keys are already visible, including older pay-to-public-key outputs, Taproot outputs, and reused addresses.

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