Canadian quantum technology company BTQ Technologies (BTQ) announced on March 19 that it has activated BIP-360 on its test network called Bitcoin Quantum. BIP-360, a proposal to improve Bitcoin designed to resist quantum computer attacks, exists for the first time not only as a document, but also as executable code in a production environment.
From BTQ they claim: Bitcoiner community can’t wait for consensus to mature Start testing post-quantum solutions for Bitcoin.
In this context, Bitcoin Quantum, which has accumulated more than 100,000 mined blocks and more than 50 active miners, will serve as a living laboratory for developers and researchers, according to the statement. They can verify how an anti-quantum version of Bitcoin would work before the threat becomes a reality.
The integration of BTQ and BIP-360 addresses Bitcoin’s unique challenges against potential quantum attacks. While some current address formats expose users’ public keys on-chain, BIP-360’s design includes a mechanism called key disbursement, which specifically targets the scheme built into the Taproot update (key pass expenditure) that Publish your public key with each transaction.
Deriving the private key from the public key would require thousands of years of classical computation, so such exposure is not a risk at this point. But a sufficiently powerful quantum computer can do it using a mathematical algorithm called Shor.
Another potential risk lies in a practice known as “collect now, decrypt later,” where an attacker with access to a quantum computer in the future could record these exposed public keys today to attack when the technology allows.
To disable this vulnerability, BTQ testnet BIP-360 proposes a new type of transaction called Merkle Root Payment (P2MR).
Instead of publishing the public key directly, P2MR hide it inside a mathematical structure called a Merkle treesimilar to a sealed envelope that is opened only when the user interacts with it, revealing only what is needed when using the funds.
Impact on Bitcoin
The test version of the Bitcoin Quantum Network launched in January was forked (hard fork) Bitcoin developed and managed by BTQ. It was created specifically to experiment with post-quantum solutions and serve as a test lab. progress that takes place there These will not be automatically moved to Bitcoin mainnet.
What BTQ has done with this implementation is to demonstrate the following: The mechanism doesn’t just work in theoryHowever, it can be run on a real network. P2MR transactions are created, signed, sent, and confirmed in blocks.
For Bitcoin, this new implementation will be important because it will reduce the distance between proposal and practice. It is important that changes exist as tested code before they are seriously discussed in the community. BTQ currently provides its code in an environment where miners and developers can evaluate it without waiting for mainnet consensus.
As reported by CriptoNoticias, BIP-360 was incorporated into the official Bitcoin proposal repository in early 2026, but its implementation into Bitcoin Core, the software that runs the main network, has not progressed.
Some people place the quantum threat on things like: decades apartsome argue that current quantum computers are far from the power needed to break Bitcoin’s encryption, while others argue that they protect the network.
Even if the BTQ testnet demonstrates in this public discussion that BIP 360 works robustly and sustainably, the most complex steps will still remain. It is to define whether the Bitcoin development community is willing to evaluate the results, independently verify them, and create a roadmap for incorporating changes into the main network. None of these steps are guaranteed or dated.
(Tag Translation) Bitcoin (BTC)
