Bitcoin’s biggest institutions pledge $15 million to fund network security work

Nine of the largest firms in institutional Bitcoin have announced the roll-out of the Bitcoin Security Consortium. The announcement came on Thursday, July 23. 

The nine firms committed a total of $15 million over three years to help developers and researchers keep the network safe, with emphasis on post-quantum cryptography. 

The group includes companies with the largest amount of Bitcoin to protect. They are: Strategy, BlackRock, Coinbase, Fidelity Digital Assets, Galaxy, Anchorage Digital, ARK Invest, Block, and Blockstream. 

These nine companies either hold, custody trade, or build Bitcoin infrastructure, so it makes sense that they’re now cutting checks to sustain Bitcoin in the long-term. 

Nine companies, but nine separate checks

Each of the companies will cut a check, rather than the nine of them pooling funds together. Each company gets to pick the developers, researchers, and organizations that receive its money, and the $15 million is a sum of those individual pledges over the next three years. 

With each company cutting its own check, the group can fund open-source work without anyone controlling where the money goes. 

Mike Schmidt is the executive director of Brink, a developer non-profit, and he is saddled with the responsibility of coordinating the work. He posted on his X page that he is doing all of this as a volunteer and isn’t getting paid at all. 

He’ll also continue to run Brink independent of any of the nine firms. Since 2020, Brink has funded open-source Bitcoin work, giving over a million dollars to developers in a single year, as well as the first security audit of Bitcoin by a third-party. 

The crew of nine drew clear boundaries in the announcement. They will not build Bitcoin’s protocol nor take sides on particular protocol changes. They also promised more money if the need arose. 

Why the quantum clock is of major concern to all

The group claims to be driven by a single purpose, and that’s quenching the threat of large-scale quantum computers. Large-scale quantum computers will only be capable of cracking the cryptography behind Bitcoin years from now, but the consortium considers it wise to prepare against a possible threat. 

Coinbase research puts the estimate of Bitcoin supply exposed to long-range quantum attack between 20% to 50%. Other entities, like Project Eleven, have issued warnings. They stated in May that about 6.9 million Bitcoins could be targeted, with 2030 as a possible “Q-day”.   

Members of the consortium disagree as to when the quantum threat will materialize. Some believe it is decades away, while others fear it is a few years away. The group has decided to focus on funding and information rather than forecasting.

A busy month for quantum readiness

The launch comes amidst a wider push for quantum readiness and capabilities. One of the group members, Galaxy, announced its Bitcoin Quantum Readiness Initiative a few days ago, pledging ~$5million in grants to developers and researchers and establishing an advisory council.  

Coinbase already has a quantum computing advisory board, while BlackRock has marked quantum computing as risky in its spot Bitcoin ETF filings.

The U.S. government has not been left behind. President Donald Trump signed two executive orders last month to accelerate U.S. quantum computing capabilities. It set an ambitious target to move all federal high-value assets to post-quantum cryptography by the end of 2031.