Michael Terpin, founder and CEO of Transform Ventures and author of Bitcoin Supercycle, said freezing Satoshi’s coins would cross a line Bitcoin has never crossed. Terpin is sometimes called ‘the crypto godfather’ for his involvement in the industry around 2013, when it was still young and somewhat misunderstood by the mainstream.
“While I appreciate the proactivity in CZ’s proposal, it begins a slippery slope of creating permission in a permissionless system relative to personal property,” Terpin told CoinDesk.
“If indeed [Satoshi] is dead, as many Bitcoiners believe, then only a quantum hack unlocks the coins. While it would hurt the price substantially if the coins were dumped, it would be a one-time episode and post-quantum bitcoin would recover.”
Terpin also questioned whether Bitcoin’s decentralized community could ever agree on such a change. “Considering it took years just to implement SegWit, I doubt a quick consensus could be formed here,” he said.
Jameson Lopp, co-founder and chief security officer at Casa, said CZ’s comments miss the larger issue. “I don’t really consider it a proposal so much as him musing upon the threat,” Lopp said in an email interview.
Freeze or not to freeze
Lopp, also a prominent cypherpunk and leading Bitcoin developer and advocate, said the debate is not about Satoshi’s coins. It is about preparing Bitcoin for a future in which today’s cryptography is no longer secure. “I think this is not a binary debate of ‘to freeze or not to freeze.’”
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