BTQ Technologies has taken an important step towards developing quantum technology-resistant infrastructure on the Bitcoin network. The company implemented the first working application of Bitcoin Development Proposal 360 (BIP 360) and introduced the protocol it developed for quantum-resistant transactions in the testnet environment called Bitcoin Quantum.
New Transaction Structure and Technical Features
The transaction model called Pay-to-Merkle-Root (P2MR), introduced within the framework of BIP 360, radically changes how transaction data is recorded on the chain. Thanks to this structure, the need to openly share public keys in some transactions is eliminated; Thus, additional protection is provided against the possibility that quantum computers can bypass existing encryption in the future.
BTQ Technologies CEO Olivier Roussy Newton stated in the company’s statement that BIP 360 constitutes one of the most important steps the Bitcoin community has made towards quantum resistance and that they have turned a theoretical proposal into real working software.
The P2MR structure maintains its compatibility with Bitcoin’s scaling road map and continues to support the scripting features underlying systems such as Lightning. Additionally, the new approach disables the pass-through-key method deployed with Taproot, which can reveal public keys.
Testnet and Developer Tools
The necessary wallet tools to test BIP 360 live on the Bitcoin Quantum testnet were also presented. Thanks to this infrastructure, users can create P2MR-based transactions, sign them and publish them on the chain. BTQ pointed out that in this way, the update is no longer just a theoretical suggestion, but has become practically testable.
There are already more than 50 miners on the Bitcoin Quantum testnet, and over 100 thousand blocks have been processed through the testnet. This environment allows the technical testing of quantum-resistant solutions.
Community Adaptation and Governance Issue
It is emphasized that the test network developed by BTQ Technologies was launched outside of Bitcoin’s traditional governance processes. The company bypassed the traditional community consensus stage by testing the update on a new network with different rules, rather than integrating it directly into Bitcoin’s main chain. Christopher Tam, as BTQ’s chief innovation officer, pointed out that such major changes have a social dimension rather than a technical one, and that it is difficult to ensure coordination of the distributed structure.
The Bitcoin Quantum network does not share wallet balances or transaction history with the Bitcoin chain; It operates with its own crypto asset and ruleset on a new blockchain launched from scratch. When users want to participate in this new system, they must comply voluntarily.
It is stated that BIP 360 does not offer retroactive protection to entities that have shared the public key in the past on existing addresses. The proposal provides a layer of security that will apply mainly to transactions that will be created in the future and for which the public key has not yet been disclosed.
Experts state that the elliptic curve cryptography on which Bitcoin is based can be overcome by technically advanced quantum computers, but the timing is uncertain. For now, BTQ’s testnet implementation is a test of whether community consensus can be achieved beyond the code.
