Digital Asset Firms Pledge $15M for Bitcoin Security Research

A group of financial institutions and digital asset companies has pledged $15 million over the next 3 years to establish the Bitcoin Security Consortium in order to prepare for quantum computing.

The consortium will fund research into Bitcoin's long-term security, support developers, and study the potential impact of quantum computing on the network. The participating companies will independently decide which developers and organizations receive funding.

The founding members are Anchorage Digital, ARK Invest, BlackRock, Block, Blockstream, Coinbase, Fidelity Digital Assets, Galaxy, and Strategy.

Phong Le, CEO of Strategy, said about the initiative: 

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

Mike Schmidt, executive director of Brink, will manage the consortium's day-to-day operations on a volunteer basis. Brink is a nonprofit organization that funds Bitcoin developers.

The industry first has to consider which security risks could affect Bitcoin and other blockchain networks long-term. Quantum computing is one of the issues under consideration because sufficiently powerful quantum computers could possibly undermine cryptographic systems that secure digital assets.

The consortium will focus on research and funding rather than creating a centralized security body, and the members will continue managing contributions independently while supporting work related to Bitcoin's security and development.