The Blockspace Pod: How Bitcoin engineers are solving the quantum risk

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4.7 • 698 Ratings

🗓️ 24 January 2026

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Is Bitcoin ready for the quantum threat? Join Charlie Spears as he explores technical solutions like BIP 360 and OP_CAT. We dive into the massive trade-offs of quantum-resistant signatures and the logistical nightmare of migrating millions of addresses to keep the network secure. Subscribe to the Blockspace newsletter! Tackling the technical battle to protect Bitcoin from quantum computers. We explore why quantum-resistant signatures are up to 100x larger than current ones and the impact this has on block space and fees. From lattice-based math to STARK-based compression, Charlie breaks down the leading proposals like BIP 360 and BIP 347. We also calculate the "migration" timeline—how long it would actually take to move every Bitcoin to a safe address before "Q-Day" arrives. Subscribe to the newsletter! [https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com](https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com) Notes: * Quantum signatures can reach 17,000 bytes (500x!) * Optimized hash signatures are 50x larger. * Full BTC migration takes 76 to 142 days. * There are 190 million unspent BTC outputs. Timestamps: 00:00 Start 05:31 Hash based signatures 08:17 Adoption 12:17 Bitcoin uniquely exposed 14:38 Proposals 17:39 Going forward 👉CleanSpark, America's Bitcoin Miner! CleanSpark (Nasdaq: CLSK) is a market-leading data center developer with a proven track record of success. We own a portfolio of power, land, and data centers across the United States powered by globally competitive energy prices. Sitting at the intersection of Bitcoin, energy, operational excellence and capital stewardship, we optimize our infrastructure to deliver superior returns to our shareholders. Monetizing low-cost, high reliability energy by producing a global emerging critical resource – compute – positions us to prosper in an ever-changing world. 👉 FBOX, Cooling for Bitcoin Mining and the AI Data Center Transformation FBOX is the global leader in cooling system manufacturing, with the #1 shipment volume of bitcoin mining containers worldwide. Not only powering for the strongest hashrate, their technology also helps mining infrastructure transform into AI data centers. Backed by the largest production scale on earth, global deployment capability, and a full range of cooling solutions, they are shaping the future of compute. 👉 Luxor, Leaders In Bitcoin Mining and Compute Power! Get game-changing mining results with Luxor Firmware. Boost hashrate, cut energy costs, protect your hardware, and maximize mining profits with LuxOS. Published thrice weekly, "The Blockspace Pod" interviews the best builders and operators in the Bitcoin and Bitcoin mining landscape. Subscribe to get notifications when we publish interviews on Tuesday, our news show on Friday, and our Writer's Room talk show on Saturday!

Transcript

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0:00.0	We only have a few years before quantum computers kill Bitcoin.
0:05.0	At least that's what some people think.
0:10.0	And maybe they're right, but you'd better hope that they're wrong.
0:14.0	Here's the thing.
0:15.0	Q-Day, that's the day quantum computers come along and can kill Bitcoin.
0:19.0	Nobody knows when Q-Day will arrive. It could be
0:22.7	2030, 2045, later. Maybe it comes tomorrow. It's not tomorrow, don't worry. But anyone who is an
0:30.5	expert, who says definitively one way or the other, is lying to you.
0:44.3	But this is a very important subject to discuss. And because it impacts Bitcoin so much, we have to talk about it.
0:49.3	And a lot of Bitcoin developers are not waiting around to find out when QDay is. They're fixing it
0:56.3	right now. So I don't know when a cryptographically relevant quantum computer will appear,
1:02.7	but let's just assume the pessimists are right, that a quantum computer is on the short-term
1:09.1	horizon. The kind of computer that can derive
1:12.0	your private key from your public key, is Bitcoin prepared?
1:16.6	Is there a clock counting down?
1:19.4	And are we ready?
1:27.4	This is episode two in a multi-part series on quantum computing and Bitcoin from Us at Blockspace Media.
1:33.3	I've tracked down some of the leading Bitcoin researchers to give their thoughts and insights on some of the technical solutions that exist and are currently being worked on.
1:43.2	This is a more technical episode. There is
1:45.3	a episode one you should go back and listen to a couple episodes before this on the Blockspace
1:50.5	podcast channel, which introduces the subject. We're going to be hitting multiple dimensions
1:55.7	like the solutions, the debate on quantum, and investor reactions in this episode and future episodes.
	...

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