Cory Fields outlined three preliminary proposals on Nov. 4, 2026, to discourage quantum-enabled bitcoin theft through financial penalties. None has been activated on Bitcoin; implementation would require substantial engineering and consensus. Fields said the ideas were thought experiments and that a soft fork might be possible.
His “Quantum Landmines” proposal would require an attacker to match the bitcoin they tried to take with collateral. A holder with a hidden ownership proof could claim both during a proposed 30-day challenge period. Fields also proposed two auction systems for vulnerable holdings, including older coins whose lost private keys may prevent owners from preparing such proofs.
Project Eleven estimates that about 6.9 million BTC have publicly exposed keys and could be vulnerable to a sufficiently powerful quantum computer. That estimate excludes fresh, never-spent hashed addresses; it does not describe coins currently being stolen. No quantum computer has publicly demonstrated an attack against Bitcoin.
