A new step has been taken in the Bitcoin developer ecosystem to increase cryptographic security standards. Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) 360 has been updated and included in the official BIP GitHub repository to prepare Bitcoin against future quantum computing threats. This development stands out as a concrete progress in efforts to strengthen the network’s resilience against possible technological risks.
BIP 360 and P2MR: New Output Type and Purposes
BIP 360 introduces the Pay-to-Merkle-Root (P2MR) model, a new type of output to the existing Bitcoin infrastructure. This model was designed to support quantum-resistant script trees while also being compatible with the Tapscript infrastructure. P2MR eliminates the key path option used when spending funds and offers a spending method that depends only on the script path. Developers state that this technical change narrows the potential attack surface, especially protecting against quantum attacks by preventing the disclosure of public keys in the blockchain.
Quantum Computers’ Theoretical Threats to Bitcoin
Quantum computing has become a major topic of discussion in the cybersecurity world due to its potential to break mathematically strong encryption algorithms. Advanced quantum computers can break some cryptographic mechanisms used in systems such as Bitcoin, creating the risk of deriving private keys from public keys; This means unauthorized transfer of funds. In particular, Taproot addresses, Pay-to-Public-Key (P2PK) outputs and repeated use of addresses are extra risky as public keys appear on the chain.
The P2MR model introduced with BIP 360 is structurally similar to Taproot, while disabling key path spending and reducing the attack surface. Thus, it is aimed to provide an additional layer of security in the Bitcoin network against a possible quantum computer threat in the future.
BIP 360’s author team states that this proposal lays the foundation for the future addition of post-quantum signature algorithms to Bitcoin. It is predicted that algorithms such as ML-DSA (Dilithium) and SLH-DSA (SPHINCS+) can be integrated into Bitcoin in subsequent soft fork processes.
Hunter Beast, who is one of the main authors of the proposal and works in the field of protocol engineering, pointed out that the step taken is the beginning of a transition process. Beast also states that they have developed additional recommendations for the protection of assets that have not moved for a long time and pose a security risk.
Technical communication expert Isabel Foxen Duke, another person who worked on the documents, stated that care was taken to prepare the proposal in a language that not only software developers but also the general public can understand.
Bitcoin developer Isabel Foxen Duke states that the proposal was written in a way that the public can understand, and that a transparent and understandable presentation was aimed due to the sensitivity of the subject.
At the global level, both governments and major technology companies are accelerating investments in post-quantum cryptography. The US National Security Agency (NSA) aims to make quantum secure systems widespread by 2030. The Institute of Standards and Technology plans to phase out the use of elliptic curve cryptography in the 2030s.
Supporters evaluate that BIP 360 enables Bitcoin to comply with new standards in the transition to quantum security and contributes to the network being more resilient to the technological challenges it may face in the coming years.
