A quantum threat to Bitcoin has some asking the unthinkable: Is it time to freeze old wallets belonging to Satoshi Nakamoto?

The world’s biggest Bitcoin fortune is at risk. A new report by Google found that, by 2029, hackers could use new quantum computing techniques to crack open wallets belonging to Bitcoin inventor Satoshi Nakamoto in as little as nine minutes. Those early wallets, worth around $75 billion at current prices, account for over 5% of the world’s Bitcoin supply. Now, in the face of the quantum threat, some are renewing calls for a blockchain upgrade that would lock up those coins forever.

“If nothing is done, then coins on old addresses, including Satoshi’s, could eventually be taken by whoever first has practical quantum capacity,” says JP Richardson, an early Bitcoiner who runs the crypto wallet firm Exodus.

It’s possible, says Richardson, to update Bitcoin in a way that the coins in Satoshi’s wallets could no longer be spent. The Satoshi wallets account for around 1.1 million of Bitcoin’s finite 21 million supply, and are part of a sub-set of 6.9 million coins that Google says are most vulnerable to a quantum attack. In one scenario, the Bitcoin community could introduce a quantum-resistant upgrade and force........

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