BlackRock, Coinbase, Strategy Among Members of $15 Million Bitcoin Security Consortium

Nine institutional Bitcoin firms have formed the Bitcoin Security Consortium, pledging a combined $15 million over the next three years to fund the developers and researchers working to keep the network secure over the long term, including against the eventual threat of quantum computing.

The group announced Thursday includes BlackRock, Coinbase, Strategy, Anchorage Digital, ARK Invest, Block, Blockstream, Fidelity Digital Assets and Galaxy, a lineup that spans holders, custodians, exchanges, infrastructure providers and asset managers.

Rather than pool the money, each firm will steer its own share of the $15 million to the developers and organizations it picks. Mike Schmidt, executive director of the Bitcoin-focused non-profit Brink, is coordinating the group’s day-to-day work as a volunteer.

The group emphasized it has no hand in the protocol itself: it won’t build or steer Bitcoin’s code, won’t back or oppose specific changes, and won’t speak for its developers, all of which stay with the open-source community. The model, it said, mirrors how industry groups have long backed the open-source software they depend on without controlling it.

“As long-term holders, we have every incentive to see Bitcoin remain secure for generations,” Strategy CEO Phong Le said in a statement. “Funding the people who do this work, and helping inform the conversation around it, is a natural way for us to contribute.”

The group named post-quantum cryptography as one of its priorities. Bitcoin relies on elliptic curve cryptography to secure coin ownership and transactions. The cryptography could be broken by a powerful enough quantum computer. While no such machine exists today, experts have increasingly said one could exist within the decade. Research firm Project Eleven has warned that roughly 6.9 million bitcoins could be exposed in a worst-case scenario.

The Bitcoin Security Consortium launch caps a busy stretch of quantum preparation across the industry. Galaxy, one of the nine members, recently committed up to $5 million in developer grants through its own Bitcoin Quantum Readiness Initiative, though whether that sum sits inside the $15 million aggregate has not been clarified.

The consortium said it will release and update guidance on Bitcoin’s security over the coming months.

Related Listen: Strategy Sold More Bitcoin. Is This a Betrayal of the Bitcoin Ethos?

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