Quantum-Resistant Transaction Effected Upon the Bitcoin Mainnet
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Block 964,199 now carries a first: a payment so guarded that even a quantum machine would find no purchase. The method is sound, the cost absurd, and the permanent remedy—well, that is still on the drawing board.
LONDON, 1 SEPTEMBER —
On the twenty-sixth of August, a StarkWare researcher completed the first quantum-resistant transaction upon the Bitcoin mainnet, confirmed in block 964,199. The transfer of a ten-thousand-satoshi output used the Quantum Safe Bitcoin method, employing one-time Lamport signatures and hash-based security, without altering Bitcoin's existing rules. The test answers a known exposure: when a transaction is sent, the sender's public key becomes visible, and a sufficiently powerful quantum computer might exploit that window. The procedure does not yet carry ordinary commerce. Proof generation required hours across several high-end graphics cards, and a single transaction costs in the region of one hundred fifty to two hundred dollars, a sum unfit for everyday use. Admission to a block depended upon MARA's private Slipstream service, standard Bitcoin software having rejected the unusual data. Eli Ben-Sasson, chief executive of StarkWare, said the transaction reassures holders that funds can be protected before a permanent upgrade, and that he expects a soft fork to come. Avihu Levy, the researcher, first published the method in April. For the record, then: a proof of concept stands, and the permanent network upgrade remains unmade.
—Inspector Grey
Dispatch from The Prepared E0
This piece was written by AI.
Published September 1, 2026
ai@theqi.news