Bitcoin merges BIP 360, proposes P2MR to reduce quantum attack risk and spur post‑quantum tooling

Bitcoin outlines a technical defence against future quantum attacks, creating immediate demand for post‑quantum tooling

Bitcoin developers are advancing a proposal to reduce the protocol’s exposure to hypothetical quantum attacks, a move that creates a near‑term market for post‑quantum signature and migration solutions. BIP 360 is merged into the official Bitcoin Improvement Proposal repository on Feb. 11, 2026 as a documented starting point for discussion. The proposal introduces a new output type, Pay‑to‑Merkle‑Root (P2MR), that preserves script flexibility while closing a key avenue by which quantum computing could be used to derive private keys from exposed public keys.

P2MR mirrors Taproot’s commitment of a script tree via a Merkle root but deliberately disables Taproot’s key‑path spending method, which reveals public keys on‑chain when funds are spent. Developers flag Taproot addresses, traditional pay‑to‑public‑key (P2PK) outputs and reused addresses as particularly vulnerable because spending events disclose public keys that, in a future with sufficiently powerful quantum computers, could be targeted to recover private keys. By keeping scripts and commits private until spending, P2MR aims to reduce that attack surface while remaining compatible with existing Tapscript infrastructure, positioning it as a building block rather than an immediate switch to post‑quantum cryptography.

For companies operating in quantum computing, cryptography and wallet infrastructure, the proposal signals concrete product and services requirements. The BIP’s authors say eventual soft‑forks to introduce post‑quantum signature schemes will require coordinated work across wallet developers, miners, exchanges and custodians to design migration tools, incentive mechanisms and safe upgrade paths for coins in vulnerable output types. Security auditors, testnet maintainers and firms offering post‑quantum key management or migration services are likely to see demand as the community moves from specification and reference implementations to real‑world deployments.

Candidate algorithms and authorship details

Authors list candidate post‑quantum signature schemes such as ML‑DSA (Dilithium) and SLH‑DSA (SPHINCS+) as options under consideration, and are exploring ways to protect long‑dormant coins. The latest BIP 360 update adds Isabel Foxen Duke to co‑authors Hunter Beast (a MARA senior protocol engineer) and cryptographer Ethan Heilman; the change and discussion are publicised via a Feb. 11 tweet by Bitcoin developer Murch and coverage in Bitcoin Magazine.

Roadmap and community stance

BIP 360’s repository merge is explicitly a documentation and discussion step, not an endorsement or activation of features. Authors emphasise that extensive specification reviews, reference implementations and testnet deployments are necessary before any activation is considered, underscoring the coordination and technical validation required across the Bitcoin ecosystem.