Morning Minute: Bitcoin Devs Propose New Quantum Solution

Morning Minute is a daily newsletter written by Tyler Warner. The analysis and opinions expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Decrypt. And check out our new daily news show covering all of the top stories in 5 minutes or less, downloadable on Apple Pod or Spotify.

GM!

Today’s top news:

• Crypto majors slightly green; Bitcoin at $74,600
• BTC ETFs see $186M in inflows, $600M in past 2 days
• BIP-361 proposal would freeze unmigrated Bitcoin in effort against quantum
• All Birds stock soars 800% after pivot to AI
• UNC jumps another 120% to $20M, fastest meme runner in months

⚛️ Bitcoin Developers Propose Freezing Quantum-Vulnerable Coins

The newest quantum-proof theory for Bitcoin came on Wednesday.

Casa CTO Jameson Lopp and five co-authors posted BIP-361 to Bitcoin’s GitHub Tuesday – a three-phase plan to migrate coins off quantum-vulnerable addresses or have them frozen by the network.

About 34% of all BTC sits in early Pay-to-Public-Key addresses with exposed public keys, including Satoshi’s estimated 1.1M BTC (~$74B). A quantum computer running Shor’s algorithm could theoretically derive private keys from those exposed public keys. Google’s quantum team has flagged 2029 as a possible threat date.

How this plan works would ban new transactions to legacy addresses, then freeze all unmigrated coin and then offer ZK-proof recovery via BIP-39 seed. Lopp himself calls it a rough sketch and says he doesn’t think it’s necessary yet. But the quantum clock is ticking and new solutions are at least starting to come in…

Key Details:

• BIP-361 posted to Bitcoin’s GitHub Tuesday by Jameson Lopp and five co-authors; three-phase plan to freeze quantum-vulnerable coins that don’t migrate; ~34% of BTC at risk including Satoshi’s ~1.1M BTC
• The timeline: Phase A bans legacy address sends 3 years post BIP-360 activation; Phase B freezes unmigrated coins 2 years later; Phase C optional ZK-proof recovery via BIP-39 seed; Google flags 2029 as a possible quantum threat date
• The debate: Lopp calls it a rough sketch, not currently positioned for adoption; critics argue the freeze mechanism fundamentally violates Bitcoin’s permissionless, sovereign ownership principle

🌞 WLFI Wants Your Tokens Locked Past Trump’s Second Term

Fresh off last week’s $75M Dolomite loan debacle and Justin Sun’s public break with the project, World Liberty Financial dropped a governance proposal Tuesday that investors did not receive well.

WLFI proposed unlocking 62.3 billion locked tokens under terms that stretch vesting well past Trump’s second term. Early investors get a 2-year cliff then 2-year linear vest. Anyone who doesn’t vote to accept gets locked indefinitely. Founders burn 10% of their allocation and vest the rest over 5 years after a 2-year cliff.

This clearly didn’t go over well with WLFI holders, including Justin Sun.

Key Details:

• World Liberty Financial proposed unlocking 62.3 billion WLFI tokens under terms that push full vesting past Trump’s second term; early investors face a 2-year cliff and 2-year linear vest, or tokens stay locked indefinitely if they reject
• The governance math: quorum is only 1 billion WLFI with simple majority required; founding team can pass this without any outside support
• Market response: WLFI trades at $0.079, 48% below the treasury’s own $0.1507 buyback average

👟 Allbirds Is Now an AI Company, and The Stock Is Up 600%

The company that made wool sneakers for SF tech workers, hit a $4B valuation, and then collapsed 99% announced Tuesday it’s abandoning shoes for AI compute infrastructure. The new name: NewBird AI.

And the stock went from $2.49 to $17 intraday.

The plan: sell the Allbirds brand to American Exchange Group for $39M, take a $50M convertible facility from an institutional investor, and use the proceeds to acquire GPU hardware for lease to customers.

Is this the pets.com moment of the AI cycle? History doesn’t repeat, but is sure does rhyme…

Key Details:

• Allbirds announced a pivot to AI compute infrastructure as NewBird AI, selling its shoe brand for $39M and raising $50M in convertible financing for GPU acquisitions; stock surged 600%
• The reality check: no existing compute infrastructure, $58M in free cash flow burned over the last 12 months; company was days from closing down for good
• The Decrypt comparison: Long Island Iced Tea renamed itself Long Blockchain in 2017, stock surged, got delisted, and three executives were charged with SEC insider trading

🐦 Elizabeth Warren Is Coming for X Money

X Money is launching this month. Musk’s vision is peer-to-peer payments built into X, with potential stablecoin integration and a product he wants to eventually replace traditional banking. Warren fired off a letter to Musk on Tuesday, demanding written answers by April 21.

Her concerns: FDIC insurance gaps, potential stablecoin issuance under the GENIUS Act, financial surveillance and data monetization, and whether Musk’s track record running X gives consumers any reason for confidence.

Warren is the ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, the exact committee running the Clarity Act markup this month. X Money, the Warsh hearing, and the FOMC are all happening in the same two-week window. Washington is having a very busy April.

Key Details:

• • Senator Warren sent a letter to Musk demanding answers by April 21 on X Money’s consumer protections, FDIC insurance gaps, potential stablecoin issuance under the GENIUS Act, and financial surveillance risks
  • The timing: Warren is ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, currently handling the Clarity Act markup; her X Money pressure lands in the same window as the Warsh confirmation hearing and April 28-29 FOMC
  • What X Money is: peer-to-peer payments built into X with crypto and stablecoin integration; Musk’s first step toward an “everything app” for financial services; early access reportedly opening this month

🌎 Macro Crypto and Markets

• Crypto majors are slightly green; BTC +0.6% at $74.6k; ETH +0.1% at $2,337; SOL +2% at $85; HYPE +1% at $44.66
• RAVE (+18), DOT (+9%), and FIL (+9%) led top movers
• Oil -1% at $88; Gold even at $4,820
• Bitcoin whales have accumulated 270,000 BTC ($20B) in the past month, the largest accumulation streak since 2013 according to CryptoQuant
• Tether acquired another 951 Bitcoin, now holding 97,141 and 5th largest onchain holder

Corporate Treasuries & ETFs

Meme Coin Tracker

• Meme leaders were mostly green; DOGE +3%, SHIB +3%, PEPE +5%, TRUMP +2%, PENGU +5%, SPX +6%, FARTCOIN +8%
• Unc (+120%), Peace (+28x), Dumbmoney (+120%), and Bio (+35%) led notable onchain movers

💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker

🚚 What is happening in NFTs?

• NFT leaders were slightly green; Punks even at 26 ETH, Pudgy +1% at 4.1 ETH, BAYC +1% at 6.35 ETH; Hypurr’s even at 402 HYPE
• Del Mundos (+25%) and Moonbirds (+5%) led notable movers