BTQ Technologies has taken a major step toward securing Bitcoin against future quantum computing threats. On Thursday, the company released Bitcoin Quantum testnet v0.3.0, which includes the first working implementation of Bitcoin Improvement Proposal 360 (BIP 360).
This upgrade is designed to protect Bitcoin transactions from potential attacks by advanced quantum computers. The testnet provides a live environment where developers, miners, and researchers can experiment with quantum-resistant transactions on a functioning network.
BIP 360, also known as Pay-to-Merkle-Root (P2MR), was added to Bitcoin’s official BIP repository earlier this year but is still considered a draft proposal. BTQ’s release now allows participants to create, fund, sign, and spend P2MR transactions, observing the entire process from mempool acceptance to confirmation.
The proposal addresses a long-term cryptographic risk. If quantum computers become powerful enough, they could potentially break the cryptographic security of exposed public keys on the Bitcoin blockchain—a vulnerability introduced by Taproot’s key-spend design, which was activated in 2021. P2MR solves this by committing transactions to a Merkle root of a script tree instead of relying on an exposed public key, maintaining Taproot’s flexibility while removing the quantum vulnerability.
The new testnet implements full P2MR consensus rules, including SegWit version 2 outputs with bc1z address encoding, Merkle root verification, and control block validation. It also enables quantum-resistant Dilithium signature opcodes within the P2MR tapscript. To support developers, BTQ has included command-line wallet tools and full RPC wallet support for end-to-end testing.
BTQ’s CEO and Chairman, Olivier Roussy Newton, emphasized the importance of moving from theory to practice. “BIP 360 represents the Bitcoin community’s most significant step toward quantum resistance, and we’ve turned it from a proposal into running code,” he said.
The company warned that waiting for a quantum-capable adversary to emerge would be risky and urged the industry to take proactive steps. “The industry can’t afford to treat quantum resistance as a theoretical exercise,” Newton stated.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading at $69,534, down 3% over the past 24 hours after testing resistance near $76,000 earlier in the week.
Frequently Asked Questions
Of course Here is a list of FAQs about BTQs first testnet launch designed to address questions from beginners to those with more technical knowledge
Beginner General Questions
1 What is this news about in simple terms
BTQ a research company has launched a firstofitskind test environment to experiment with upgrading Bitcoins code to protect it from future superpowerful quantum computers
2 Why does Bitcoin need protection from quantum computers
Todays encryption keeps Bitcoin secure Future quantum computers could in theory break this encryption potentially allowing someone to steal funds This is a longterm threat but preparing now is crucial
3 What exactly is a testnet
A testnet is a separate independent copy of a blockchain used only for testing Developers can try new code simulate attacks and experiment without risking real money or the main Bitcoin network
4 Is my Bitcoin safe right now
Yes The quantum computers that could pose this threat do not exist yet and are likely years or decades away This testnet is about proactive defense not reacting to an immediate crisis
5 Who is BTQ
BTQ is a researchfocused company formed by a merger of quantum and blockchain experts They are dedicated to preparing cryptographic systems for the quantum computing era
Technical Advanced Questions
6 What specific quantum threat does this address
It primarily addresses the threat to ECDSA which secures Bitcoin wallets A powerful quantum computer could reverseengineer a public key to find the private key and steal funds
7 What is PostQuantum Cryptography and how is it used here
PQC refers to new encryption algorithms designed to be secure against both classical and quantum computers BTQs testnet is integrating and testing these PQC algorithms to replace or augment Bitcoins current cryptographic signatures
8 What are the biggest technical challenges in upgrading Bitcoin for quantum resistance
Consensus Getting the entire decentralized Bitcoin community to agree on a new cryptographic standard
Backward Compatibility Handling old quantumvulnerable coins and ensuring a smooth transition for all users