Binance founder Changpeng Zhao said roughly 1.1 million dormant BTC potentially tied to Satoshi Nakamoto may need to be locked if left untouched long enough, prompting renewed debate over Bitcoin’s security model and property rights.
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao said Bitcoin linked to Satoshi Nakamoto should be frozen before quantum computers become capable of stealing it, arguing that roughly 1.1 million BTC believed to be held by Bitcoin’s creator may need to be locked if the coins remain unmoved for a certain period. The proposal has sharpened a broader debate over how the network should respond to a future quantum-computing threat, with supporters framing intervention as a preemptive safeguard for dormant early coins and critics warning that freezing funds would undermine Bitcoin’s censorship resistance and property rights. The disagreement highlights a longstanding tension in Bitcoin between defending the network from emerging technical risks and preserving the principle that no one should be able to arbitrarily block access to coins.