Coinbase published a position paper on the future of Bitcoin signatures on October 13, 2026. Its central claim is that the move to schemes a quantum computer cannot break has to begin before such a machine exists. Bitcoin is untouched by it at around $81,600 (CoinGecko, October 16). The paper names neither a deadline nor an activation mechanism, and that is precisely its message: the debate is starting, the implementation is not.
Coinbase sets out a position paper on post-quantum migration
The document carries more weight than the usual industry comment, because Coinbase custodies around five percent of all existing Bitcoin according to consistent reports, mostly for banks, asset managers and hedge funds. A firm holding that much of other people's money does not carry migration risk in theory.
The company's reasoning is set down verbatim in the paper: "Bitcoin consensus changes and ecosystem migrations can take years, so it is important that we begin this work now." Elsewhere it states that preparation should start "well ahead of any CRQC". CRQC stands for cryptographically relevant quantum computer, meaning a machine actually ...
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