Galaxy Pledges $5M to Fund Bitcoin Post-Quantum Migration

Galaxy announced on July 21 a commitment of up to $5 million to support developer grants, research, audits and a Quantum Advisory Council aimed at preparing Bitcoin for post-quantum signature schemes.

The funds are earmarked for milestone-based developer grants, review of quantum-resistant transaction proposals, integration of post-quantum signature code, formal security audits and creation of software and institutional migration tools. The advisory council will provide technical guidance and coordinate research across the effort.

The pledged work targets two timing risks in Bitcoin cryptography. A sufficiently powerful quantum computer running Shor’s algorithm could recover a private key from an elliptic-curve public key and then forge signatures. Public keys already visible onchain provide a long window for key harvesting. Transactions that reveal public keys while they sit in the mempool create a shorter, immediate window for exploitation.

A draft proposal known as BIP 360 would add a Pay-to-Merkle-Root output, or P2MR, as a soft fork to remove Taproot’s long-term key path and keep public keys hidden until they are spent. P2MR would not replace signature algorithms; it would reduce prolonged onchain exposure and leave room for later adoption of stronger signatures. The draft covers long-lived exposure and does not by itself address risks that arise once a public key appears in the mempool.

A separate draft, BIP 361, sketches an operational migration that depends on a post-quantum signature choice and outlines a possible two-phase transition lasting roughly five years after activation. That timeline is presented as a scenario rather than an agreed plan. After a design is selected, the network would require proposal review, signature analysis, audits, wallet and node software releases, institutional upgrades and time for holders to move funds into protected outputs.

Federal and standards activity offers related reference points. The National Institute of Standards and Technology finalized three post-quantum standards in August 2024, including two for digital signatures. An executive order directs certain federal systems to adopt post-quantum signatures by Dec. 31, 2031; that requirement applies to specified government systems and does not set a date for when quantum hardware will be able to mount the relevant attacks.

Galaxy’s funding is intended to accelerate code development, security reviews and migration tooling. Adoption of any new transaction format or signature scheme would require coordination among developers, miners, node operators, wallets, exchanges, custodians and users. The company noted that funding can speed technical work but cannot unilaterally select Bitcoin’s final design or set the network’s adoption schedule.