The active use of quantum computers in the field of digital assets may reveal one of the industry's biggest mysteries - is the anonymous creator of Bitcoin alias Satoshi Nakamoto alive? Adam Back, a well-known cryptocurrency fan and CEO of Blockstream, stated that.
The fact is that under the pressure of the increasing speed of quantum computing, Satoshi will eventually be forced to move his Bitcoins to another wallet to insure the coins from theft. However, this is only possible if he still keeps an eye on what's happening in the blockchain industry.
Where is the real Satoshi Nakamoto?
During an interview after a Q&A session at the Satoshi Spritz event in Turin on April 18, Adam Back suggested that developments in quantum computing could force Nakamoto to move his bitcoins. He said BTC owners would have to move assets to new addresses with quantum-resistant signatures.
The Blockstream CEO noted that modern quantum computers do not yet pose a serious threat to Bitcoin cryptography, but that could change in the future. He estimates that such technologies could emerge in about twenty years.
When the threat becomes real, the Bitcoin community will have to choose between writing off old, vulnerable addresses or allowing attackers to steal funds, which will definitely be bad for the value of the digital asset and its reputation.
If quantum computers emerge and are accessed in universities and labs, the network will have the choice of allowing the coins to be stolen or freezing them, abandoning the old signature scheme.
Back believes that the community is more likely to choose the second option - this would force Bitcoin's creator to move funds if he wants to avoid loss. However, whether such a situation will be proof that Satoshi is alive also depends on future privacy mechanisms in the Bitcoin network.
The expert continues:
It depends on the technology. There are ideas that could add privacy to Bitcoin. There may be a way to eliminate the quantum threat and maintain anonymity.
However, not everyone believes that even then it will become clear whether Nakamoto is alive. One anonymous early miner told that reporters that he does not expect the coins to move. His retort was as follows.
Even if he's alive and has access to the private keys, I don't think he'll touch them. Judging by his behavior before, I rather expect him to leave it up to the community.
He added that since the issue is controversial, it is logical to let the representatives of the blockchain community decide it. He also noted that he would be surprised if Nakamoto suddenly came out of the shadows to transfer funds.
Back explained that most quantum-tolerant implementations of signatures have either not yet been proven secure or require significant amounts of data. He cited Lamport signatures as an example - this is an old and proven scheme, but it takes dozens of kilobytes.
As a result, the expert suggested that the community should be ready to switch to quantum-resistant signatures, but do it only if necessary. He also suggested a similar implementation based on Taproot, which would allow addresses to switch to appropriate signatures as needed.
The growth of tokenized assets
In the meantime, the market continues to grow, and tokenized stocks are poised to surpass a $1 trillion capitalization in the coming years. This was announced by two executives at once at the TokenizeThis conference in New York.
The progress of the field of tokenized stocks, which are a type of tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), is difficult to predict. However, they are "definitely going to become a trillion-dollar market," is the opinion of Arnab Naskar, CEO of STOKR.
According to Anna Vrublevskaya, Director of Business Development at Dinari, the demand for such instruments in 2025 has literally "exploded" from a variety of players, from Web3 wallets and neobanks to traditional financial companies. Here's the statement on the topic:
We have seen a huge increase in interest from a much wider range of potential partners than we could have imagined, it is really interesting.
As of April 21, tokenized stocks have reached about $350 million in total market capitalization. This is only a small fraction of the total RWA market, which has a market cap of more than $18 billion.
However, this could change as tokenized stocks begin to take an increasing share of the U.S. stock market. According to Siblis Research, the total value of the US stock market exceeds $50 trillion.
She added that tokenized US Treasury bonds are already in high demand for the same reasons. Their current capitalization is nearly $6 billion.
The development of quantum technologies may not only change Bitcoin's architecture, but also bring the moment of truth for the entire industry - the unveiling of Satoshi Nakamoto's identity. However, even if this happens, the future of cryptocurrencies depends not on one person, but on the community and its willingness to adapt to new challenges. So there is clearly no need to worry here.
