MicroStrategy executive Michael Saylor warns that the biggest risk to Bitcoin comes from ambitious opportunists advocating for protocol changes.
The comment comes just as Coinbase and the Ethereum network are taking measures to address one of the most relevant long-term existential threats to Bitcoin: quantum computing.
The quantum dilemma of Bitcoin brings the debate on protocol changes to the forefront
The co-founder of MicroStrategy elaborated on how the ossification of the protocol represents Bitcoin's main defense. According to Michael Saylor, internal attempts to 'improve' the network pose a greater danger than external technological threats.
This observation highlights Bitcoin's role as neutral digital money in the context of debates such as the BIP-110 soft fork proposal.
BIP-110, which as of January 25, 2026, has gained support from 2.38% of nodes, aims to temporarily limit transaction data (e.g., OP_RETURN to 83 bytes) to counteract “spam” arising from non-monetary uses.
The discussion creates a divide in the community between purists who prefer Bitcoin Knots and those who use Bitcoin Core for broader applications.
Some developers cite concerns over hasty or politically motivated changes, while others emphasize that ignoring emerging risks could in turn become a liability.
This tension is now heightened, given that Coinbase has announced the creation of an independent advisory committee dedicated to quantum computing and blockchain security.
The committee will study how future advancements in large-scale quantum machines could threaten the cryptographic foundations of Bitcoin. Public research, risk assessments, and technical guidelines for the entire ecosystem will be published.
At the heart of the concerns is elliptic curve cryptography (ECC), which underpins Bitcoin's ECDSA and Schnorr signatures.
In theory, a sufficiently powerful quantum computer running Shor's algorithm could derive private keys from public keys, allowing attackers to falsify transactions or drain exposed wallets.
Although such machines are not expected for at least 5 years, the long timelines needed for secure protocol transitions have made resilience against quantum computing an increasing priority.
The Coinbase committee brings together prominent figures in cryptography and quantum research, including:
Stanford professor Dan Boneh
The scholar of quantum theory from the University of Texas, Scott Aaronson
The researcher from the Ethereum Foundation, Justin Drake, and
The founder of EigenLayer, Sreeram Kannan.
According to Coinbase, the committee will operate independently and publish position papers on the state of quantum computing.
Guidelines will also be provided to developers and institutions, responding in real-time to advancements in the field.
The Bitcoin conversation on quantum computing moves from theory to engineering reality.
The initiative reflects a broader shift in the Bitcoin development community's approach to this issue.
Data from 2025 shows a significant increase in discussions related to quantum computing on Bitcoin mailing lists, with over 10% of technical communications now concerning post-quantum security. This particularly follows years of near-total silence.
The conversation has shifted beyond abstract hypotheses and now addresses concrete engineering questions, such as the possible migration of Bitcoin from ECC to new post-quantum signature schemes via soft fork without disrupting the network.
Despite this momentum, most researchers urge against rushing protocol changes. The prevailing opinion is to wait for post-quantum cryptography standards developed by entities like NIST to be fully mature, rather than imposing premature updates that could introduce new vulnerabilities.
In this sense, Coinbase's move is seen as preparation rather than a panic reaction. It is about ensuring that Bitcoin and other blockchains have credible migration paths well before quantum attacks become feasible.
The comparison with Ethereum is also becoming increasingly evident. The Ethereum Foundation has recently stated that post-quantum security is an absolute strategic priority. In this context, they are:
Launching dedicated teams
Funding cryptographic research and
Managing active post-quantum devnets.
Representatives from Ethereum now sit on Coinbase's advisory committee, confirming that quantum computing preparedness is increasingly seen as an industry-wide challenge across different chains.
As quantum research accelerates and institutions take a more active role in making crypto infrastructures future-proof, maintaining this balance could become more challenging.
